One Year Drawing Project: May 2005–October 2007

The One Year Drawing Project, is an experimental drawing exchange involving four of Sri Lanka’s most critically acclaimed contemporary artists – Muhanned Cader, Thamotharampillai Shanaathanan, Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Jagath Weerasinghe.

In May 2005, the four artists simultaneously created four unique drawings in their respective studios in Sri Lanka. These drawings were exchanged by post, finding their way between Jaffna in the north and the suburbs of the capital Colombo. Upon receipt of the drawings, four more were duly generated in response to the first set of drawings. In structure this chain of events marked the start of The One Year Drawing Project.

Commissioned and curated by Sharmini Pereira for Raking Leaves, an independent publishing organisation based in London, England, The One Year Drawing Project is an artist’s book project that documents an exchange of viewpoints – both artistic and ideological – over a sustained period of time, bringing commitment and collaboration into dialogue with reaction and consequence.

The exhibition is presented by SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) in collaboration with UTAC to coincide with the 2009 Tamil Studies Conference and includes a community drawing workshop Making a House a Home, facilitated by emerging artists from Toronto’s Tamil community, and organized by SAVAC. This workshop takes place on May 23 1-4 pm at UTAC.