Merinda Dias-Jayasinha

The blue area

Let's Take Over - Saturday March 5 | Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre
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With recorded spoken reflections on cultural heritage and erasure, familial knowledge and the artist's own drive to embrace her Sri Lankan/Australian identity, this work sees the artist getting ready in a saree, gifted to her by her Granna in her bedroom. The audience is challenged to question initial perceptions of appearances so that the safety and intimacy of a bedroom may extend out to all other spaces. The work is another step towards the artist articulating and unravelling her identity and a means to continue to understand and proudly hold her heritage.

In this work, artist, Merinda Dias-Jayasinha expands on The grey area, a previous sound work that explored intergenerational memory and inner turmoil that comes with living between two culture. After the physical separation between her and her family during the pandemic and experiencing strong feelings of loss, Dias-Jayasinha developed a strong desire to actively preserve her family culture. In The blue area, the artist reconciles her feelings of uncertainty and cultural erasure - arriving at a place of peace and tranquillity and wholeness. The artist sees this feeling manifest in the colour blue.