MMCA Sri Lanka presents ‘Three Songs of Ceylon’

By Michelle 

Therese Alles 

‘Three Songs of Ceylon’, the first moving image exhibition by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka), opened last week at The Stables, Park Street Mews, and will remain open to the public until 11 February 2026.

Curated by Sandev Handy and assisted by Thinal Sanjeewa and Nimaya Harris, the exhibition features six moving image artworks that explore how Sri Lanka has been represented and interpreted through film over nearly a century, and how it continues to shape the collective understanding of the past.

‘The Song of Ceylon’ (1934), commissioned by the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board during British colonial rule, traces how two contemporary artists revisited this film from two distinct vantage points in the subsequent decades. They are presented alongside additional moving image pieces that extend the conversation, situating Sri Lanka’s cinematic history within broader cultural and political contexts.

The exhibition highlights the transnational afterlives of colonial-era imagery and encourages reflection on how historical records function in the present. While archival footage serves as a vital resource for understanding history, the exhibition also encourages viewers to question whose perspectives have been foregrounded, and which voices have been marginalised.

‘Three Songs of Ceylon’ is presented as part of MMCA Sri Lanka’s commitment to promoting modern and contemporary art in the country, encouraging audiences to rethink history, representation, and the stories that continue to shape Sri Lanka today.

“Featuring six works made over the last 100 years, ‘Three Songs of Ceylon’ will be the MMCA Sri Lanka’s first exhibition devoted entirely to artists’ films,” noted Handy. “There has yet to be a sustained discussion in Sri Lanka about the history of the medium, how contemporary artists work with it, or how such work is collected and preserved,” he added.

‘Three Songs of Ceylon’ features artists based across Sri Lanka, Germany, Pakistan, the United States of America, Australia, and the United Kingdom. They include Bani Abidi (b.1971), Imaad Majeed (b.1991) with Sharika Navamani (1990), Laleen Jayamanne (b.1947), Lionel Wendt (1900-1944) with John Grierson (1897 -1972), Walter Leigh (1905-1942) and Basil Wright (1907-1987), Mark LaPore (1952-2005), and Rosalind Nashashibi (b.1973).

“While videos can serve as crucial records for the study of the past, this exhibition also aims to see them as historical actors in their own right. To understand Sri Lanka’s twentieth and twenty-first centuries, one must understand the media through which the country was continually reassembled,” Handy said.

He also said: “I hope that this exhibition helps kick-start a larger conversation about the place of artists’ films in the country, and invites us to see this medium as an active force in history with much still to offer.”

‘Three Songs of Ceylon’ is presented as part of the Art Exchange: Moving Image program, which is supported by the British Council and organised by LUX and Art South Asia Project. The exhibition is generously supported by Park Street Mews, Goethe Institut Sri Lanka, Fulbright Sri Lanka and American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies. 

Visitors to the exhibition can also join free Curator’s Tours and Exhibition Tours, alongside several other free public programmes offered by the MMCA Sri Lanka. Gallery Talks have been scheduled with artists Bani Abidi on 1 February, Imaad Majeed and Sharika Navamani on 7 February, and the production company Kehelmala on 8 February.