Ecologies and Aesthetics of Dissent: Constructing Mediatic Environments of Resistance in Sri Lanka
In order to study ecofeminisms and aesthetics of dissent, this paper foregrounds two sustained and iterative collective practices whose methods and works convert the ideational and symbolic into the acutely palpable and sensible. Through the discussion of distinct works and activities, I examine longstanding visual and spatial practices in Sri Lanka by Women and Media Collective (WMC) and Raking Leaves. They diverge from one another in orientation and method, if sharing a sensibility for politics and the political. While neither practice articulates its work in terms of the ecological as a category, I argue that each ultimately struggles against degradations and harm to the living and constructed environment, providing a pedagogy for caregiving and cohabitation within it. My reliance on the notion of “ecologies and aesthetics of dissent” forwards such a framing as a critical ecofeminist analytical strategy that names forms of care for social, political, and aesthetic environments as essential to constituting integrated material and intellectual homes, formative for constructing resistance to oppression. This paper is based on interviews with principals and research in rarely accessed archives, and contributes to a larger study of enduring collective visual and spatial practices by artists, architects, environmental activists, and media practitioners in Sri Lanka, India, and Kenya, whose work has alloyed South Asian, African, and Indian Ocean ecologies and aesthetics of dissent.
Author Profile: Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi
Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi, born in Chennai, India, is a prominent scholar specializing in architectural history, migration studies, and feminist colonial practices. With a focus on marginalized communities, her work critically examines the intersections of architecture, politics, and social justice, notably through her forthcoming book on the spatial politics of refugee camps in Kenya and her research on the intellectual legacy of Minnette de Silva in Sri Lanka.