Ink slayers

Riding the first big waves of the Sri Lankan artistic and cultural renaissance, new bi-monthly arts magazine Ink is taking on and talking up the art world in all its forms, reviewing and promoting the best of the best on the conventional arts scene as well as in allied creative sectors like architecture, design, boutique fashion, and even food.

Editor-in-Chief Kshanika Argent set out her stall saying “Ink is especially relevant now as an unbiased promoter and objective critic of the Sri Lankan arts. Ink is about good content, and we are dizzy with excitement over the upcoming print editions.”

With its unique and often challenging insights into the mainstream of visual and performing arts, literature, music, cinema and photography, Ink has fast gained a subscription base from its initial online edition (launched December last year). The magazine targets a cross-section of the entire artistic community: artists, students, designers, curators, art collectors and investors, cultural critics, and all creative industry practitioners.

Ink’s core team all hail from Colombo’s creative and critical circles, drawing on the expertise of Associate Editors ASH Smyth and Anasuya Subasinghe, Visual Designer Ashika Witiwalarachchi, and a marketing and PR machine engineered and run by Geethal Fernando and Yasal Ruhunage. Ink magazine is further strengthened with the bylines of the country’s finest writers and photographers, including Malinda Seneviratne, ASH Smyth, Pradeep Jeganathan, Thulasi Muttulingam and Azi Mohamed.

As for the lay readership, the magazine is unrivalled in its ability to reach deep into hearts and minds through content that covers reviews, previews, features, exclusive interviews with artists and photojournalism – all of which, according to Associate Editor Anasuya Subasinghe, is 100% original material, exclusively created for Ink.

Subasinghe notes “we like to think of ourselves as inclusive and Ink is for anyone who seeks authenticity in the creative sphere, anyone who is naturally and culturally curious about Sri Lankan art.”

Smyth, a founder member of the acclaimed UK arts site theartsdesk.com, is matter-of-fact “everybody knows this is a small town, so the stakes are high. But the sincerity of this kind of project should be immediately recognisable to anybody willing to take it at face value - and that’s where a critical enterprise gets its legitimacy.

There’s a bit of tough love involved, but if push doesn’t come to shove I don’t doubt that artists and critics will bring the best out of each other.”

The inaugural issue of Ink is out now (Rs. 200), on stands across the Keells supermarket chain and at Odel Unlimited. For more information on Ink Magazine, visit www.inkmagazine.asia (full website launches middle of this year) or on Facebook www.facebook.com/Ink