Nilanthie Weerasekera was born in 1971. She had her art education
in the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya
where obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1996. In 1998,
she went to Sweden to pursue a three months study program at the
Konstepidemin in Goteborg. She had her first solo exhibition “Fabricated
Woman.” at the Heritage Gallery in 1997. She continued her
studies at the Delhi University, India where she obtained a Masters
of Fine Arts Degree.
She held a solo exhibition at Konstepidemin, Goteborg in 1998.
Nilanthie Weerasekera has participated in many group shows among
which are the 1995 “Lalitha Kala” Art Exhibition at
the Sri Lanka Convention and Exhibition Center, Colombo. She also
participated in the 109th Anniversary Art Exhibition of the Ceylon
Society of Arts in 1996 at the National Art Gallery. In 1998,
she exhibited her work in the Young Contemporaries Art Exhibition
and “Moods and Modes”, an exhibition to commemorate
50 Years of Sri Lankan Paintings at the same venue. She has won
many awards for her work. Among these are the first prize she
won at the 1996 All Island Youth Award Competition organized by
the National Youth Council and the UNESCO prize for the Aschberg
Bursary, Konstepdemin, Goteborg, Sweden.
Her work deals with the woman’s identity. She works predominantly
with oils on canvas where she tries to deconstruct the constructed
identity women’s sexuality.
