Annette Fernando’s ‘Girls Like Us’ exhibition from 14 to 28 August

‘Girls Like Us,’ an exhibition of drawings and etchings by Annette Fernando is on at the RV8Y STVDIO GVLL3RY from 14 to 28 August, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The gallery is located at 61/5, Ward Place, Colombo 7.

Annette Fernando (1991) was born and raised in London, UK. Annette’s father is Sri Lankan and her mother is half Italian, half French. After initially completing a foundation diploma in Art & Design at the Camberwell College of Art & Design, she moved on to the BA Fine Art course at the Central Saint Martins’ College of Art & Design. She is currently visiting Sri Lanka once again to get in touch with her roots. 

London-based Annette Fernando has chosen to establish herself here in Colombo for the summer as she travels across Asia to catch a working break from her time in London. As an internationally acclaimed artist and prolific illustrator, Annette has exhibited work across the United Kingdom, France and Spain, in numerous magazines and is the winner of the Student Award for the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2014, one of the biggest draughtsmanship exhibitions in the UK.

Annette Fernando

Annette’s visual style is rooted in the realm of comic books, romantic pulp novels and film noire. Her work contains copious amounts of cinematic references, with a particular focus on the British and French new wave movements. Much of her references for the ‘Girls Like Us’ exhibition in Colombo contain scenes from Ingmar Bergman, Roman Polanski, Joseph Losey, Francois Truffaut, Gerry O’Hara and Jean-Luc Godard’s cinematic oeuvre.

The exhibited images discuss the representation of people in everyday situations and the impact of film on identity. This ranges from voyeuristic perspectives to the simplicity of observation, including the representation of women and sensuality in cinema across the last century. 

Tension, passion and angst are held in suspension as she explores the relationship between man and woman from the perspective of a gothic visionary. These discussions encompass the passage of dreamscapes to darker, more psychological areas of cultural conditioning. 

By recreating resonant, biographical scenes from selected works of cinema, Annette opens up such mediated, archival images to a more introspective platform. The reflections of television screens serve as a reassurance with the creation of artificial comforts. 

Both artist and audience are provided with the opportunity to acknowledge an embedded repression and the denial of true experience. These instances are able to unfold into something more fulfilling and tangible due to Annette’s questioning. 

Annette graduated from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design in London. She is the granddaughter of Panthiyage Henry Quintus Fernando, who once shared an affiliation with Sri Lanka’s legendary 43 Group.

  –Pix by Krishan Ranasinghe

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