Location, Date: Colombo, 25 September 2026
\Place and memory have a particular relationship in the work of Nihal Sangabo Dias. Sri Lanka is both familiar and continually changing in his paintings, an island of landscapes, villages, people and colour, filtered through an artist who has spent decades looking closely at it. This way of seeing Sri Lanka is central to ‘Around the Island’, presented by ITC Ratnadipa this World Tourism Day. ‘Around the Island’ takes place at the WelcomGallery of ITC Ratnadipa, from 25 September to 11 October 2026, showcasing Sri Lanka as a Sri Lankan artist sees it, not as a fixed landscape, but as something observed, remembered and continually reinterpreted.
Rather than simply depicting the island, Dias invites viewers to encounter it through his own visual language. His interpretation offers a way into Sri Lanka beyond the familiar sights of a destination, shaped by what he has seen, what has stayed with him, and how he chooses to translate those memories onto the canvas. Tourism is often associated with the act of arriving somewhere, but a sense of place can also be shaped by the stories, images and perspectives through which a country is represented. In Dias’ work, Sri Lanka becomes something to be encountered through an individual artistic perspective, allowing familiar landscapes and everyday scenes to take on another dimension.
