Join us for an artist talk with Kuweni Dias Mendis, sharing the experiences, influences, ceremonies and processes that inform her storied labyrinth of diasporic hybridity and expression, Running Rivers: People of Place (20 September – 26 October at Outer Space).
About the exhibition
Growing up in Bibile, Sri Lanka, Kuweni Dias Mendis has long been immersed in ritual practices and ceremonies. The temples of Bibile are sites of great mystery. Through reverence and precise spiritual acts, they reveal meaning, draw commonality, and inspire higher purpose.
Guided by the Sri Lankan principles of ‘ප්රකෘති Prakuratha’ (original creation or nature) and ‘සංස්කෘත Sanskrutha’ (culture), Running Rivers: People of Place echoes the Indigenous knowledges that remain in deep relation to the environment. Here on Turrbal and Yuggera Country, the river is a vital conduit, connecting each in the land, and to each other.
This multi-sensory installation utilises the river as a symbol to explore the feminine expressions of the Sri Lankan 64 Mayam, embodying spirituality as a journey and destination. Marked by local river mud, clay, insect pigments and rhythm, Dias Mendis reconciles cultural boundaries amongst diasporic complexity.
This is an offering of the river; it is a temple and ritual space that mediates migrant forms of belonging, grounded in body and place.
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About the artist
Kuweni Dias Mendis is a multidisciplinary artist, born in Sri Lanka and has been based in australia since 1999. Her practice reflects on place, culture and identity through the lens of diasporic experience, working across raw mark making, Yantra (symbolic drawing from ritual art in Sri Lanka), installation, performance and film.
Her artistic approach is deeply influenced by her hybrid cultural experiences between both Sri Lanka and australia. Intersecting regenerative practice, arts activism, and cultural facilitation, Kuweni uses ritual and ceremony as vessels for her artistic manifestations.
As a migrant woman of colour on unceded lands, she uses her voice to advocate for and amplify the experiences of marginalised women through collaborative artworks, exhibitions, and participatory experiences.
ACCESSIBILITY: The gallery is wheelchair accessible from the Brunswick St entrance. If you have any specific access needs or questions, please either email admin@outerspacebrisbane.org or send us a message on Instagram.
This is a free public program, and all are welcome to attend and explore, respectfully.
Images: Kuweni Dias Mendis, 64 Mayam series (i), 2024. Photo: Scott Chrisman