6 Leaves

This piece is modelled on a Sri Lankan Palm Leaf Manuscript. Researching this work I discovered that my great-grand uncle, W A de Silva, had been an avid collector of these manuscripts and had donated his collection to start The Sri Lanka National Museum’s library. The catalogue he wrote in 1938 is available online.

I printed out 6 pages from an illustrated manuscript, enlarged, overdrew and overpainted on them using avocado ink, tea ink, gouache and gesso. The lowest leaf is a facsimile of the original, travelling upwards through time my alterations and adjustments reference historic events and include images of W A de Silva and Catherine, his heiress wife who made this philanthropy possible. Sir Herbert Stanley who also features, was the British Governor General at the time.