Aqua Waves makes its printmaking debut An allegorical touch to the ambiguous elements of human nature

‘Aqua Waves’, Chiranthika Thanthreewaththa’s debut solo exhibition, was held at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre, from the 17th to the 18th of May. 
An assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Visual Arts, University of the Visual & Performing Arts, Chiranthika touches on thematic areas such as freedom, masculinity, figures, femininity, flora and fauna. She brings forth a vibrant colour palette, which greatly helps display the art pieces in a contrasting light. Her work is an allegorical touch to the ambiguous elements of human nature.
The primary artistic process behind Aqua Waves is Printmaking. This is a centuries old art form that originated during the Han dynasty in China, in the 1st Century AD. Since then, this art form has gradually spread across the globe, influencing artists, book publishers and graphic designers alike. Chiranthika’s work derives its uniqueness from the applicability of her creative geniu, to this centuries old art medium.
The printmaking techniques used for the exhibition were woodcut (negative spaces are carved out on a wood surface, leaving only the lines within the intended art work to appear), etching (involves a highly technical process where marks are incised into a metal plate)  and aquatint (similar to etching, but focuses more on shapes and less on lines). For the Aqua Waves exhibition, Chiranthika didn’t simply create stand alone pieces from each of the techniques, but instead chose to bring forth a mixed media (the combination of two or more art techniques into a single piece of work) form of printmaking. 

Seamless synergy of printmaking

This seamless synergy of printmaking techniques give Chiranthika’s art a voice of their own, thereby accentuating the art pieces’ deeper meaning. Moreover, the incorporation of semi-abstract figures throughout the exhibition, make the art pieces pleasing to look at.
The cardinal theme of the exhibition revolves around love, marriage & freedom, where she tangentially weaves features of flora and fauna into it. She also expresses the conundrums women face before marriage and the prospects they would have to face after marriage. Drawing from her own personal experiences, where she experienced a sense of relief and freedom after marriage, Chiranthika artfully transfers this into her own creative work. This in essence gave Aqua Waves a grounded sense of realism and relatability. 
Chiranthika says that bringing ‘Aqua Waves’ to light was no mean feat, as the exhibition involved its own set of obstacles, all of which she bravely faced up to. She further mentions that, the time frame to work on her art was extremely limited, primarily due to balancing life as a lecturer. With local artists putting forward their creative work and experimenting with various art forms, Aqua Waves makes a noteworthy contribution to the Sri Lankan art scene. 
Aqua Waves, in a nutshell was more than just an exhibition. It brought forward a sui generis  art form and gave it a completely unique twist of its own, which is once again greatly evocative of Chiranthika Thanthreewaththa’s own creative genius.