On May 8, Insights Arts presents Marian Yalini Thambynayagam, a New York-based performance artist whose work explores the legacy of war amongst the Sri Lankan diaspora using gender and sexuality as a lens. Marian is a Sri Lankan Tamil American 'Art-Rebel-Warrior living in Brooklyn by way of Texas.'  Her performance work includes personal narratives gracefully woven together using theater, spoken word, song, and dance.

Thambynayagam has toured nationally throughout the US as well as Canada and Sri Lanka.  Her show Strange Rain was presented at the National Asian American Theater Festival in June 2008.  Most recently she directed Suk aur Duk ki Kahani a  storytelling project with Domestic Workers in conjunction with Andolan as part of the Culture Project's Women Center Stage Festival (NYC).

In this Chicago performance, Marian draws upon previous works such as Strange Rain as well as integrates new work she wrote after her trips to Sri Lanka in January 2008, and in India in January 2007, where she volunteered in Sri Lankan Tamil refugee Camps, and conducted theater workshops.  'Integral to the creation and performance of my work is community interviews, discussions, and writing/performance workshops. This experience has greatly informed my process.

 'Since January 2006, the people of Sri Lanka have suffered at least 1,000 disappearances, 4,000 killings, 250,000 displacements and 20,000 new refugees fleeing Sri Lanka to India. As fighting has intensified, human rights abuses have also escalated, including widespread abductions, rape, assassinations, assault, harassment, and massacres of civilians.  In Sri Lanka as well as in the diaspora, the space for dialogue around the escalating violence has narrowed as authoritarianism and militarism is on the rise.  Using a diasporic lens, my work strives to open conversations.  It asks: what is the responsibility of those living outside of Sri Lanka to people living within who are most vulnerable to recent escalating violence?  Most of all it recognizes the need to affirm spirit in the face of great violence.'

The stories Marian shares reflect those of her family as well as unrepresented voices within the Sri Lankan diaspora.  In one she tells the story of her father as a young boy who becomes part of a revolution that quickly soured:'he did not know that burning empty buildings would lead to a land full of mines.'

While the work speaks primarily to issues facing the Sri Lankan diaspora, Marian understands it to be in conversation with multiple communities.

$10 (donation)

VIEW EVITE HERE

http://www.myspace.com/yalinidream

Insight Arts
1545 W. Morse, Chicago, IL 60626 US
(773) 973-1521