Sivasubramaniam Kajendran

Sivasubramaniam Kajendran is a multidisciplinary artist. He graduated from the University of Jaffna in 2014 with a degree in Fine Arts (Art History).

He has been awarded the esteemed UNESCO scholarship of the Madanjeet Singh Institute for South Asian Art (UMISSA). He has a Master’s degree in Art and Design from the Beaconhouse National University (BNU) in Lahore, Pakistan. Sivasubramaniam Kajendran has had local and international exhibitions, most recently a solo at the Paradise Road Galleries in June 2023. Siva’s works are widely collected in Sri Lanka, a notable collector being design mogul Udayshanth Fernando who has acquired a considerable amount of works of the artist.

Mysticism, decay, and hope culminate in reflecting the mood of Sivasubramaniam Kajendren’s works. The distorted figures; the women like angels in their sheer white, translucent nightwear and grandiose heads that stay so still and silent while a bird pecks its surface, invoke a reverberating sensation across the walls as one walks along the aisles. The theme of Siva’s art remains as a therapeutic catharsis, as one can imagine when one gets to know the story behind the artist. He has confidence that through hope, even the most damaged or scarred person can endure the hardships and struggles they face in life. As a Catholic, Siva believes that there is nothing that God will test us to delve into that we, as an individual, cannot grapple with.

Siva believes that his country is so divided by hatred and misunderstanding, by invisible things that unseen scars and unheard anger cannot change. Yet, one can see his scars and his anger depicted on the canvas he paints on. And he, himself, feels that there is still hope. There is still hope of freedom from these things through harmony, communication, purity, and love.

The artist suggests we move forward by letting go of division, unseen boundaries, and misunderstood religions. He states that for him, his art lets his demons out. Siva is mindful of the heavy darkness and the sadness within him and remembers the border crossings and the sheer loneliness and fear. He has lived through blasting bombs and experienced ‘losing everything’. He is aware of the Tamil people who still suffer the possibility of a loved one returning from some unknown place.