Colomboscope Advocates for an Indigenous Ecofeminism

Using mushrooms, textiles, movies, and more, the Sri Lankan arts festival draws connections between the exploitation of nature, women, and indigenous peoples.

The eighth edition of Colomboscope opened in the Sri Lankan capital on 19 January.

Co-curated by Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Hit Man Gurung and Sarker Protick, and helmed by Natasha Ginwala as artistic director, the interdisciplinary arts festival features more than 50 artists at venues across Colombo.

'With this editions' theme "Way of the Forest" we are trying to think in an associative way about the island's diverse environment and ecological histories while also building a regional perspective that rises beyond the geopolitical fragmentations that our part of the world faces,' said Ginwala.

'Most artists we have invited are either part of a collective, or have been working within a community. They have brought first-person narratives based on their lived experiences in their own communities which is what gives agency,' added Rajbhandari and Gurung.

Many of the works are ecofeminist, finding analogies between human exploitation of nature and men's subjugation of women.

M.T.F Rukhsana, for instance, creates testimonies around patriarchy. Through anamorphic sculptures and weavings using materials like calico fabric, thread, cane, seed pods and raw linseed oil, she explores how women can achieve empowerment by subverting market forces that subjugate them.

Dumiduni Illangasinghe's work Whispered Resilience: Mycelium's Dance (2023), pictured top, is an organic representation of the interconnectedness of living beings in the ecosystem. She created it by growing mushrooms in her studio, reproducing their stems and caps in tissue and found materials.

Turkish-Dutch artist Müge Yilmaz's shelter-shaped installation Garden of Coincidences 2 (Pillars of Dignity) (2024) was derived from her early childhood memories in Anatolia and ancient Mesopotamian traditions. Decorated with painted eyes and furnished with tree trunk seats, the shelter offers a refuge from intersectional oppression.

Soma Surovi Jannat's work Where Every Leaf Holds a Tale (2023) is a set of drawings that embrace folk tales as a source of intergenerational cultural wisdom. They emerge from the Sunderbans, which is the world's largest contiguous mangrove forest, home to more than 7 million people across India and Bangladesh.

Despite being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sunderbans has been under severe threat of climate change in recent decades. Researchers estimate that Cyclone Amphan caused close to 20% loss of mangroves in 2020.

In addition to art exhibitions, Colomboscope has an events programme, titled 'Mushroomings', that comprises artist talks, workshops, performances, movie screenings, and nature walks.

Mexican artist Cecilia Moo conducted a workshop where she blended her indigenous wisdom about medicinal herbs from her Mayan community with artistic practices. Mayans are known to have cultivated medicinal plants since ancient times and had built a capacity for self healing within the community using natural remedies which was stigmatised by imposition of colonial rule and modern medicine.

Sri Lankan-Filipino artist duo Venuri Perera and Eisa Jocson performed Magic Maids, a hybrid multi-disciplinary critique of the European history of witch-hunts and the modern exploitation of women as domestic workers.

Emma Nzioka curated a set of movie screenings titled 'Women Warriors Reclaim the Earth' whose highlight was a documentary on the life of celebrated Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, who led a tree-planting campaign to conserve the environment and improve women's quality of life.

All these artists came together along with Rajbhandari and Ginwala for a panel discussion titled 'Ecofeminist Kin' where they shared their experiences as artists and activists, their inspirations and challenges, and the need for kinship in the face of exploitation.

Moo, for instance, shared how in her Yucatan region where the indigenous Mayan communities have followed sustainable ecological practices for centuries, rampant development has now led to massive deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of the sacred Cenotes water bodies. In Mexico, where 12 million people live in forested areas and 70% of the land is covered by forests, mangroves, and scrublands, the ecological risks are too great to ignore.

'I do want to qualify that ecofeminism is being driven not just by gender but also based on the premise of indigenous and minority lives,' Ginwala added. 'It is based on principles that are not abstract but about ways of living. For example, living with a sense of reciprocity is deeply embedded in ecofeminism.'

Colomboscope continues through 28 January. —[O]