Danushka Marasinghe (b. 1985)
“His work often explores contemporary social structures and the residual consequences of the conflict, which stems from his formative experiences – such as feeling marginalized and under increasing surveillance….
“Tour on a Hospital Bed” (2012), for example, takes the viewer on a horizontal sojourn around Independence Square’s walkways, through the obscured perspective of hospital bed rails, and offers an alternative take on the previous government’s creation of purportedly ‘beautiful’ public spaces.” Jyoti Dhar
Dhanushka Marasinghe is a visual and video artist deeply invested in the socio-political landscapes of modern society. Marasinghe’s work often interrogates themes of surveillance, privacy, identity, and the interplay between contemporary reality and historical memory. Marasinghe’s creative output spans a wide range of media: from minimalist drawings and paintings, such as Gate and works exhibited in Imago Mundi, to immersive video installations, animation, sound, and participatory performances.
He is gifted with drawing unexpected parallels, whether it is between AI datasets, archaeological relics, and the human condition within contested landscapes. In the performance piece “Text‑ing‑Be‑ing” (2019), he collaborated with fellow artist K K Srinath Chathuranga to explore language dynamics and erasure; writing Sinhala letters across a grid and inviting audiences to overwrite and erode meanings, questioning who gets to own narratives.
He has showcased his talents across diverse platforms, contributing to Sri Lanka’s international presence in art. In 2014, he was featured in Serendipity Revealed, a group exhibition of Sri Lankan contemporary art held at the Brunei Gallery in London. He also participated in Portraits of Intervention: Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka at Aicon Gallery, New York, in 2017. His inclusion in these galleries underscores his evolving relevance and the global resonance of his work.
Local recognition has been equally strong; Marasinghe was selected for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka’s The Foreigners series, More recently, the same museum’s Total Landscaping featured his poignant paddy‑fields installation, where he captured a golden‑hour vista disrupted by subtle yet unnerving undercurrents—a metaphor for post‑war Sri Lanka, its fragile peace and the unseen tensions beneath. His thoughtful blend of local narratives, interactive form, and multimedia experimentation marks him as an emerging voice at the forefront of Sri Lankan contemporary art.
Solo Exhibitions
Year | Exhibition | Venue |
2016 | Erasure – Selected works of Danushka Marasinghe | New York, United States |
2012 | Art of Danushka Marasinghe | Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
Group Exhibitions
Year | Exhibition | Venue |
2024 – 2025 | Total Landscaping | Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA), Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2023 | The Foreigners | Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA), Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2023 | Thesis Exhibition-Master of Art and Design Studies | Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts and Design, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan |
2022 | Language is Migrant – Colomboscope | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2021 | Fantasy of Having a Trailer Wagon, A Group Show Celebrating the Life and Work of Manoj Nair | Gallery 46, London, United Kingdom |
2020 | de >confine, International Digital Media Art Festival | Virtual |
2019 | Theertha at Barefoot | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2019 | Celebrate Colombo – One Won | Park Street Mews, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2019 | Texting Being | Theertha Performance Platform, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2019 | A Cross Section of Sri Lankan Contemporary Art | Jaleh Gallery, Tehran, Iran |
2019 | Contemporary Sri Lankan Art – A Cross Section | Iran Cultural Center, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2018 | Visual Art Program on Global Warming – Hyderabad Literary Festival | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
2017 | Portraits of Intervention | Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka | Aicon Gallery, New York, United States |
2017 | A Brave New World: 14th Khoj International Workshop | Goa, India |
2016 | Urgency of Peace in Contemporary Times – Bodhgaya Biennale | Bodhgaya, Bihar, India |
2016 | Conceiving Space – Colombo Art Biennale 2016 | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2016 | Eternal Internet Brother/Sisterhood – International Artist Residency | Sigiriya, Sri Lanka |
2016 | LANDMARK Exhibition, Selected Videos from Cool Stories I-IV | Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, United States |
2016 | Portraits of Resistance: An Exhibition of Contemporary Sri Lankan Art | Department of Sociology, South Asian University, New Delhi, India |
2015 | TIME is Love.8 [Show 6] | Sobering Galerie, Paris, France |
2015 | The Lay of the Land: A Work in Progress | Gallery Latitude 28, New Delhi, India |
2015 | Shadow Scenes – Cinnamon Colomboscope | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2015 | (i)mage, An Exhibition of images | Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Colombo. Sri Lanka |
2015 | TIME is Love.8 [Show 2] | Zeta Art Center & Gallery, Tirana, Albania |
2015 | ARTPORT_COOL STORIES FOR WHEN THE PLANET GETS HOT IV | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
2015 | TIME is Love.8 [Show 1] | Expressive Arts Institute, San Diego, California, USA |
2014 | Serendipity Revealed | Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, United Kingdom |
2014 | Beware: Wet Ink | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2014 | FILE 2014 – Electronic Language International Festival | São Paulo, Brazil |
2014 | ARTPORT_COOL STORIES FOR WHEN THE PLANET GETS HOT IV | Valencia, Spain |
2014 | Making History – Colombo Art Biennale | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2013 | War & Peace: Visual Narratives from Contemporary Sri Lanka | Lionel Wendt Gallery/ Harold Peiris Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2012 | Colombo Art Biennale 2012 | Warehouse Project, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2011 | Art Needs Space | Goethe Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2011 | Residency for Land Art | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
Publications
Year | Publication |
2025 | Exploring How Perceptions of Land Have Shaped Sri Lanka. Groundviews, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 25th March 2025. |
2023 | The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka Opens ‘The Foreigners’. Life Online, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 22nd May 2023. |
2022 | Exploring Many-layered ‘Migration’. Sunday Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 16th January 2022. |
2019 | Soul and the City. Sunday Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 11th August 2019. |
2016 | Sri Lanka: Re-imagining Ceylon. Published by Imago Mundi/Benetton Foundation. |
2015 | Are Colombo’s Budding Artists Pushing the Envelope? Sunday Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 06th December 2015. |
2015 | Lankan Artists Make a Splash in London. Sunday Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 18th January 2015. |
Ref :DM 1
Title :Night Watchman
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2014
Measurements in Cms :24 x 36
Material Used :Digital Print on Archival Paper set of 12 found Images
Education
Year | Qualification | Institute |
2023 | Master of Arts in Design Studies | Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts & Design, Beaconhouse National University, Pakistan |
2014 | Bachelor of Visual Arts | University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2009 | Direction in Film and Television | Sri Lanka Television Training Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
