The Tent

(2019, 20 mins, Sri Lanka, 2-channel HD projection with sound)

The Tent observes a protest encampment established by mothers and families of the disappeared in northern Sri Lanka. Through long-duration observation and fixed framing, the two-channel installation attends to the temporal rhythms of a roadside vigil shaped by waiting, repetition and everyday acts of care under conditions of surveillance and uncertainty.

One channel remains with the quiet routines of sweeping, cooking, waiting and conversation, while the other intermittently returns to moments of heightened public attention surrounding anniversaries of continuous protest. The work explores the tension between political spectacle and the ordinary duration of everyday life, suggesting that sustained resistance is constituted as much through daily acts of persistence as through moments of public attention.

First exhibited at The Tetley (now Yorkshire Contemporary), Leeds, co-commissioned by the British Council and Arts Council England, before travelling to the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Brighton.