PRABANA MENDIS

This digital photomontage portrait series that feature the rule of five past prime ministers or presidents of Sri Lanka (from 1947-2014). The name, Levels of Sovereignty, stands as a satire for an ideology that is abstract and universalized. 

 

Sovereignty - an exported colonial ideology - expresses itself in ways that further expose systematic flaws in the island. I narrate, in a chronological format, the transfer of power and the transfer of post-colonial power vacuums. The systematic entropy acts as an underlying tread across this timeline.

I couple each portrait with symbols that relate to the prime minister's or president's time in office.  These symbols, most of which are  photographs of material objects and newsprint cut outs, represent the mood and climate of each time.

 

I invite the viewer to observe, and reflect, on the spillover of power. The island in 2014 reflects the island in 1947.