Before the Curtain Rises

Women Taking and Holding Space: Shanila Alles and Sophia Sansoni, in conversation with Pramodha Weerasekera

In this conversation, gallerists and art professionals Shanila Alles of Curado Art Space and Sophia Sansoni of Barefoot Gallery speak with curator and writer Pramodha Weerasekera about the significance of collaboration, mutual respect, and support among art spaces and initiatives in the art ecosystem of Sri Lanka. They will also speak about the challenges they face in running these spaces and the impacts and legacies they hope to achieve through their respective spaces and visions as women in the Sri Lankan art community. 

Sophia Sansoni continues her grandmother Barbara Sansoni's and her mother Nazreen Sansoni's legacy at the decades-long gallery at Barefoot, blending tradition with a fresh approach. Her current role at Barefoot is centered around strategising the exhibitions and programming at the Barefoot Gallery and supporting the design team at the Barefoot shop. She maintains the founder’s design ethos and vision for the gallery while catering to contemporary needs of the 21st century. By focusing on colour, fun, and the iconic style of Barefoot, she balances artistry and functionality, which is integral to Barefoot’s handwoven textile legacy.

Shanila Alles (...)

Pramodha Weerasekera is an art writer and curator based in Sri Lanka. She writes regularly about feminist artistic practices and occasionally about art books from South Asia. Her writing has appeared in e-flux, Art Review, Momus, Hyperallergic, BOMB, and several exhibition publications. Her curatorial projects have been presented at the Khoj International Artists Association (India), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka, and Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival (Sri Lanka). She is currently the Assistant Curator of Colomboscope Edition 9: Rhythm Alliances, scheduled to take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in January 2026.

Small Talk and Rage | Performance by Sakina Aliakbar & Tashyana Handy

At the heart of the performance is the rhythm of women’s lives: the syncopated beats of chores, the hush of secrets shared in girlhood, the tempo of waiting, resisting, healing. Through poetry and sound, we summon the often-unheard cadences of women's way in the world: the swish of a broom, the whisper of gossip over washing lines, the lull of bedtime stories, and the urgency of expressing awkward feelings at a party.

This work emerges from friendship as feminist method. Our collaboration is built not just on artistic synergy, but on care, emotional labour, and the shared rhythms of survival and joy. In reclaiming everyday sounds and oral fragments, we celebrate the richness of girlhood as archive, women’s work as choreography, and feminist intimacy as resistance.

Sakina Aliakbar (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her practice moves across various forms of narrative creation, from crafting stories for film to engaging in expansive literary pursuits. Sakina also deeply explores sound-based practices, working with aural landscapes and spoken forms. Her work consistently delves into diverse cultural and historical dialogues, manifesting through an adaptable and fluid creative approach.

Tashyana Handy (she/her) is a performance poet based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Responding to histories, once invisibilized or removed, her work examines intimate experiences of grief and violence around migration and identity. Often preoccupied with the failure of speech, her poetry explores the many shapes that language may take in its absence.

This event is part of the public programme of Empowerment: Art and Feminisms, a South Asian multidisciplinary travelling exhibition on view at JDA Perera Gallery from 4–11 August 2025. Featuring works by 31 feminist artists and collectives, the exhibition explores themes of gender, identity, care, resistance, and inclusion across South Asia. Empowerment is curated by Andreas Beitin, Katharina Koch, and Uta Ruhkamp, and co-produced by Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai.