Selyn’s weaves inspired by Keyt’s works

In September 2022, a team of designers from leading handloom producer Selyn came from their workshop in Kurunegala to Colombo. Theirs was an unusual brief: to study two paintings by Sri Lanka’s celebrated artist George Keyt and come up with their own creative response to these works.

It had all come about when Chief Curator of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sharmini Pereira asked Selyn’s Director Selyna Peiris if the artisans in her stable could craft a unique work inspired by the Keyts to be shown at the MMCA.

The paintings were ‘The Kandyan Bride’ (1951) and ‘The Offering’ (1948) which art lovers were privileged to see at the MMCA as part of their ‘Encounters’ Rotation 3 which ended last week.

It all came together as Sharmini proudly introduced the three distinctive pieces – a sarong and two scarves the Selyn artisans had created, now displayed alongside the two Keyts that had been their inspiration. She spoke not only of this one of a kind initiative but the amount of research and details that had gone into the work right down to “using a handloom which is very difficult to manouevre’ for instance to create the little spots as seen

on the osariya worn by Keyt’s Kandyan bride in the lovely crimson sarong and how the geometrical lines so evident in ‘The Offering’ were reflected in the scarf that hung beside it.

Sharmini spoke of the importance of recognising the work of artisans, of bringing them out, ‘to see their work in a museum’ adding to the art history of a country.

The Selyn team comprised designers Seemanthani Wanduragala supported by Jola Hauschild and Lakshani Jayathilake

and craftswomen Chamika Thenakoon, Nadeesha Karunanayake, Suranji Weerasinghe, K.T. Jayawathi, supervised by Saumya Fernando. Selyn Chairperson Sandra Wanduragala too was among the gathering present at the launch on March 15.

The limited edition set of sarongs and scarves produced under Selyn’s Design for Impact programme, is available for purchase and all funds raised go to the Selyn Foundation and the MMCA Sri Lanka.