Three Shapes of Memory

Memories shape our history, representing a collection of experiences that influence our current realities. Our relationship with memory often revolves around specific objects, situations, and stories. Its impact goes beyond the physical and resonates deeply within us. As three women in the Sri Lankan context, our individual memories reflect our lives and experiences. These personal stories intertwine, forming a collective memory. Throughout history, these collective memories have always faced limitations, erasures, and censorship by those in power. As three women, we mark our history by constructing our individual memories into a shared narrative. This connection binds us together in solidarity. By embracing our shared memories, we can find strength and unity, shaping both our past and our future.

© Kanchana Malshani Kanchana Malshani is a Sri Lanka-based choreographer, performative artist, and educator. She graduated with First Class Honours in Performing Arts from the University of Colombo.  Classically trained in the myriad forms of Sri Lankan traditional dance by some of the country’s greatest living practitioners, her artistic practice, however, extends beyond tradition—she has developed a distinctive body of work that integrates performative techniques, improvisation, and embodied research. Her work often blurs the boundaries between ritual, tradition, power relations and critical theory, engaging with themes such as memory, identity, and postcolonial resistance




© Srimalee Wijayanarayana Srimalee Wijayanarayana is a Sri Lanka–based professional dancer, choreographer, movement artist, and dance educator. With a strong foundation in both traditional and contemporary dance, her work bridges cultural heritage with innovative movement practices across performance, choreography, and teaching. She graduated in Performing Arts from the University of the Visual & Performing Arts and is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Education. She also completed the National Diploma in Choreography at the Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF), deepening her expertise in creative process and movement composition. Her shift into contemporary dance began in 2018 during a dance camp organized by the Goethe-Institut.

© Hasanthi Niriella Hasanthi Niriella is a Sri Lankan movement artist, academic, and dance activist whose work spans traditional, classical, and contemporary forms. With a foundation in Kandyan dance and formal training in Bharatanatyam and Kathak, her current practice integrates contemplative movement inspired by Tai Chi fundamentals. Through performance and research, she explores the intersections of gender, memory, indigeneity, ritual, resistance, and wellbeing, often using a feminist and autoethnographic lens.









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.