PALA POTHUPITIYE

Pala Pothupitiye (b. 1972, Deniyaya; lives and works in Athurugiriya) is a Sri Lankan artist whose work critically engages with themes of colonialism, nationalism, religious extremism, and militarism. Pothupitiya also explores issues such as caste, the divide between art and craft, and the tension between tradition and modernity, offering a nuanced critique of Eurocentrism. Raised in a family of traditional southern Sri Lankan craft artists and ritualists, his practice draws heavily on and reinterprets the material and philosophical content of traditional art forms.

Pothupitiye  holds a BFA from the University of Visual and Performance Arts in Colombo, Sri Lanka (2002). Pothupitiye attended a training programme in making Pakistan’s traditional jewellery at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan (2006). He trained in traditional Pakistani sewing techniques and metalwork methods with craftspeople in Lahore. 

He is a founding member of the Theertha International Artists Collective and the Mullegama Art Center, where he runs an art school and workshops, fostering the development of younger artists and local schoolchildren.

His work has been shown internationally at prominent exhibitions, including the Third Fukuoka Triennial at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka (2005), the Serendipity Art Festival, Goa (2015), the Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2016), and the Inaugural Karachi Biennale, Karachi(2017). He has also exhibited at Colomboscope, Colombo (2013), and the Colombo Art Biennale, Colombo(2012). In 2019, his work was presented at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona (2019).

Pothupitiye received the Jury Award at the Sovereign Art Asian Prize, Hong Kong (2010).