‘Vivikta : the new extraordinary’ the series which was birthed out of lockdown, in response to the pandemic shares our lone journey, and the impact of lockdown through weeks in quarantine and months of curfew. The Sanskrit word Vivikta embraces solitude, separation and purity; and the works are intensely intimate evocations of our collective experience of isolation, contemplation and eventual recalibration towards a new extraordinary life.

Vivikta is intensely intimate, personal and figurative. The works are minimal and embrace the bare directness of the pencil and paint with a focus on the body and the expression of deep emotions. In a sense they are down to the essence of what is essential in life. They are very much in line with the several series of collections and exhibitions on Transformation pursued since 2002.

In these bleak times we truly have had to turn to our personal resources for our sustenance in both heart, mind and body. To transform our viewpoint as in the mirror installation ‘reflect, reframe, renew’ to find a new extraordinary life.

All the titles of the paintings are from the works of Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe and are often embedded in the paintings and further clarify and elucidate these thoughts on reframing our thinking and actions towards a more caring and conscious stewardship of our fellow man and our planet.

Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe writes that,

“Vivikta : the new extraordinary is a collection by Anoma that captures the essence of our current experience.

A series about our days that have been made stark and bare by nature forcing us to retreat inwards, to turn to our personal resources for sustenance. Resources essential to our survival – compassion and love. Qualities of being that we must first offer ourselves and then have the generosity to give and receive from others. Using pencil lines and a muted palette Anoma has reflected this experience back to us. She has also paired the paintings with lines from my poems in the way only an artist would have been able to. Each painting uses the words as a doorway, and then enables the mutual creation of a new narrative, a new story, personal and unique to each observer.

These difficult days have been made meaningful with Anoma’s Vivikta collection”