Abstract:
Visual art education in Sri Lanka has historically, theoretically, and
comparatively been investigated in a postcolonial context. Through examination
of historical situations, this study focuses on how visual art education has been
and continues to be marginalized, ignored, and only utilized to achieve a
dominant national ideology or to propagate the political agendas of various forces
and actors. The study also raises questions about the bureaucratic national cultural
superiority observed in culturally embodied pedagogies adopted in art education
and examine the ways in which such pedagogies sideline innovativeness, ethnic
diversity, and the socio-cultural contexts in which art education happens. This
research challenges the institutional and national recognition accorded to visual
art as a social unifier or cleanser. Focusing on this issue, the study attempts to
reframe the history of visual art teaching seeking to identify impediments and
shortcomings in the past and present with a broader context. The study proposes
recommendations based on innovativeness that would be necessary for drafting a
national visual art education policy which would gravitate towards a national
creative economy. This, in turn, would provide an opportunity to examine the
legacy and current position of Sri Lankan visual art education from multiple
positions and perspectives.
