Semage’s "Love and Peace" in Sweden and Finland

Kalasuri Jayasiri Semage is due to hold an exhibition of his paintings, titled "Love and Peace", in Sweden and Finland.

The fifty paintings that will be on display depict Sri Lankan villagers and the physical and social landscapes in which they live. These themes are not new to Semage, who has earned a reputation as an artist who celebrates the local. He is, after all, proud of his roots. The images of his childhood in a fishing village in the South naturally find their way onto his canvas through oil, acrylic and watercolours.

Semage, who has held over 20 solo exhibitions, both locally and abroad, is a devout Buddhist, and religious themes are often the subject of his work. His pigments are soft and earthy, the figures delicately outlined and easy on the eyes. "Harmony" is perhaps the best descriptive of that which escapes the frame and grazes the eye of the beholder. He has been accorded the singular honour of having his painting "Hands that feed" displayed in the main hall of the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva. Last year, he held a solo-exhibition of his work in this building with the assistance of the Sri Lankan mission there.

The exhibition will be held at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Stockholm from October 6-22 and at the International Cultural Centre "Caisa" in Finland from October 28 to November 21. The exhibition has been made possible due to the efforts of the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Sweden, V.K. Valson and Lakkana Yalalgala, a Sri Lankan who organizes cultural events in Finland.