The One Year Drawing Project
The One Year Drawing Project | May 2005-October 2007 (detail) 2005-2007 | Muhanned Cader b. 1966 | Thamotharampilai Shanaathanan b.1969 | Chandraguptha Thenuwara b.1960 | Jagath Weerasinghe b. 1954 | Sri Lanka | Pencil, acrylic, pen and gouache on paper | 208 sheets; 38.5 x 29.8cm (each) | The Lekha and Anupam Poddar Collection, New Delhi | Image courtesy: The artists and Raking Leaves
Muhanned Cader b.1966 Colombo, Sri Lanka | Thamotharampillai Shanaathanan b.1969 Jaffna, Sri Lanka | Chandraguptha Thenuwara b.1960 Galle, Sri Lanka | Jagath Weerasinghe b.1954 Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
The One Year Drawing Project May 2005 – October 2007 is a drawing exchange involving four of Sri Lanka's most acclaimed contemporary artists. Organised by curator Sharmini Pereira and originally published as an artists’ book, the project began in May 2005, when each artist simultaneously created four unique drawings in their respective studios around Sri Lanka. These drawings were exchanged by post, finding their way between Jaffna in the north and the suburbs of Colombo in the south-west. Upon receipt of the drawings, four more were duly generated in response to the first set of drawings, in common with the ‘exquisite corpse’ (cadavre exquis) method used by the Surrealists. This chain of events marked the beginning of an extraordinary paper trail whereby ideas and drawings were assembled and circulated over a period of 29 months. The One Year Drawing Project May 2005–October 2007 is an important visual archive that considers the commitment and challenges of collaborative practice, and forms one of the most innovative contemporary art projects to come from Sri Lanka.
