- 2003 Post Experience Programme—Sculpture (Bronze), Royal Collage of Art, London
- 2002 Master of Arts in Archaeology, Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
- 1995 Postgraduate Diploma in Archaeology, Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
- 1994 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture), Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Sarath Kumarasiri, a member of Theertha International Artists’ Collective, has exhibited widely in and outside of Sri Lanka and has participated in several international residencies and workshops. Next to his art practice, he is also keenly interested in archaeology and was involved in many mural conservation projects. He was also a former Director of the National Replica School of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. At present, he lives and works in Horana, Sri Lanka.
“Politically motivated violence is happening all around the world. The experience of violence and victimization invariably makes its imprint on us and leaves us with feelings of unbearable oppression and anxiety. It is against this background that I started several series of works to capture the marks of violence, human suffering, and struggle for survival.
One of these series of sculptures became an attempt to commemorate my lost friends through the recreation of personal dress items such as shoes, slippers, trousers, or shirts, taking them as signs of remembrance. The use of terracotta, which lends permanence to these objects, gained significance within this concept of ‘memory and commemoration’.
As a next step, I placed these personal objects sculpted in terracotta into a ‘museum-like’ display case. The objective behind this idea was to bring these mementos of unnamed victims into the exclusive and public space of the museum, where memorialization is usually restricted to the political and cultural elite.”
