Art has always been a quiet witness to time; an echo of memory, a fragment of history preserved in pigment and paper. At the heart of Sri Lanka’s thriving creative landscape, PRSFG has long been a guardian of such artistic narratives, fostering local talent and championing voices that deserve to be heard. Their latest initiative, #SupportLocalArt: The Talk Series, is a testament to this vision, a digital stage where the pulse of Sri Lanka’s art scene beats with fervor. Beyond conversation, PRSFG extends its support into tangible action, joining hands with the Udayshanth and Angelika Fernando Foundation to launch the A4A Production Fund, a grant designed to uplift emerging artists with both financial backing and industry mentorship.
Among the luminaries nurtured by PRSFG, Ali Kazim stands as an enigmatic force, his art a quiet, haunting dialogue between past and present. Born in Pattoki, Pakistan, in 1979, Kazim’s journey has been one of discipline and devotion, beginning at the National College of Arts, Lahore, and later honed at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, London. His work does not merely depict but rather breathes, steeped in nostalgia, fragility, and the delicate dance between tradition and impermanence.
Kazim’s process is as meticulous as it is meditative. His compositions begin with a pencil underdrawing, reinforced by Siyah Qalam, the ancient art of black ink sketching. Layer upon layer, he builds his vision using watercolor pigments suspended in gum Arabic, washing and reapplying color in a ritual of dissolution and rebirth. He paints on wasli paper, a surface that demands precision, where the technique of paradakhtt, a laborious placement of minuscule pigment dots, evokes the discipline of South Asian miniature painting.
Kazim’s art has traveled across borders, leaving its mark on some of the world’s most esteemed institutions. His work has been showcased at the Queensland Art Gallery, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Cristea Roberts Gallery London, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art Noida, The Ashmolean Museum Oxford, and the Lahore Biennale. His pieces have been acquired into the hallowed collections of the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Burger Collection Hong Kong, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, and the Asia Pacific Museum California, among others.
It is in this spirit of return and reflection that the Udayshanth & Angelika Fernando Foundation unveils its new gallery space with a landmark exhibition; A Survey Show by Ali Kazim. This is no ordinary exhibition; it is a homecoming, a tribute to the place where Kazim’s international journey first took flight, Paradise Road Galleries, Sri Lanka.
- Two Heads (2003) | Watercolour on paper | 30cm x 51cm | Udayshanth Fernando Collection
- The Voyeur (2003) | Watercolour on paper | 51cm x 67cm | Udayshanth Fernando Collection
- Milled (2006) | Watercolour on paper | 82cm x 44cm | Udayshanth Fernando Collection
- Untitled (2004) | Watercolour on paper | 54cm x 71cm | Udayshanth Fernando Collection
- Bird Hunter (2025) | Watercolour on paper | 49cm x 39cm | Udayshanth Fernando Collection
- Untitled XVIII (2004) | Watercolour and impression on wasli | 51cm x 76cm | Saskia Fernando Yatawara Collection
- Untitled (2002) | Watercolour on paper | 54cm x 73cm | Annika Fernando Collection
The works displayed are not commercial pieces but rather borrowed from collectors, a curated selection of Kazim’s most profound explorations of memory, identity, and the fleeting nature of existence.
