Geoffrey Bawa Archival Exhibition opens at Yale University, US

The “Geoffrey Bawa: It is Essential to be There” archival exhibition opened at Yale Architecture Gallery on 29 August and will run until 30 November.

The Yale Architecture Gallery is open Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., except for major holidays. 

The Geoffrey Bawa archival collection to the United States, brings with it a formal introduction to the celebrated architect whose life and work are far less familiar to those outside the architectural community in the Western Hemisphere. 

As part of the exhibition’s East Coast opening, Geoffrey Bawa Trust Chief Curator Shayari de Silva delivered a lecture, “It is Essential to be There: Drawing from the Geoffrey Bawa Archives” on 5 September at Hastings Hall at Yale University. 

De Silva reviewed Bawa’s prolific career spanning over five decades through the perspective of the archives, and questioned what constitutes archives in the context of Bawa’s work and context.

The first exhibition to examine Bawa’s practice through his extensive archives, it initially opened at Park Street Mews in Colombo Sri Lanka, between 1 February and 5 April, 2022. Over 120 original documents were displayed and organised across four thematic sections: “Situating a Practice,” “Searching for a Way of Building,” “Defining New Directions,” and “Places Unbuilt.” Each section featured a curated selection of his projects alongside drawings, photographs, and documents from Bawa’s personal collection that painted a fuller picture of the architect who was widely known yet notoriously private.

A series of programing featuring talks, tours, and workshops held between December 2021 and April 2022 accompanied the exhibition’s premiere. These events included curatorial tours by Geoffrey Bawa Trust Chief Curator Shayari de Silva, guided walkthroughs with Geoffrey Bawa Trust Chairperson Channa Daswatte, talks with collaborators such as Lars Muller and Helene Binet, and more. In spite of turbulent conditions in Sri Lanka at the time, the exhibition drew over 7,600 visitors during its two-month run.

One year after its successful Sri Lankan opening, the exhibition travelled to the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, India between 17 March and 7 May, 2023. Its overseas debut was supported by the Sri Lanka-India Cultural Exchange Program and coincided with 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and Sri Lanka; it received over 28,000 visitors, including External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S. Jaishankar and Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture of India, Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi. Bawa’s work had a significant influence on architectural practices in India, and he has also designed several buildings in the country.