Public Reading: Art and the Trauma of War

Due to COVID-19 regulations we ask those who wish to attend the public reading and film screening, either in person or digitally, to please register in advance via e-mail. 

Since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 – a war which caused more than 100.000 casualties and lasted for 26 years – Sri Lanka has been trying to consolidate itself as a nation-state, rebuild its infrastructure and keep its tourism industry going. While its political leaders vehemently deny allegations of war crimes, refuse to deal with the past and try to keep a strong focus on ›progress‹, the cultural imaginary as it manifests in literature, film or interviews with witnesses and survivors, reveals that the experience of a traumatic past takes a heavy toll not only on the present but also on the future of this island nation. As a matter of fact, art can be seen as an important indicator of how a nation deals with its own ›dangerous‹ history.

Award winning authors, journalists and film-makers Minoli Salgado, Samanth Subramanian and Visakesa Chandrasekaram will present excerpts from their work, demonstrating how the traumas of war still determine the present of Sri Lanka’s different ethnic populations, how these traumas are slowly transformed into art and how art, be it literature, film or ›simply‹ storytelling, can help to make the past bearable.

This public reading is part of the conference The Art of New Alternatives: Nation-Building and the Creation of a ›New Community‹ in Contemporary Sri Lankan Art organised by Prof. Dr. Stefan Horlacher (TU Dresden) and Birte Heidemann-Malreddy (TU Dresden).