Interview with Kuweni Dias Mendis

Kuweni Dias Mendis is a Sri Lankan-Australian artist based in Beechmont, Australia and Bibile, Sri Lanka, who draws inspiration from her diasporic experience, weaving a rich tapestry of culture and identity in her work. A certified Regenerative Practitioner from Regenesis USA, Kuweni employs raw mark making, regenerative practices, and cultural facilitation in her artistic endeavors. Her creations are rooted in ritual and ceremony, delving into the pulsation of place, reflecting a profound connection to her diverse heritage and serving as a testament to her commitment to arts activism and cultural regeneration.

BEMAC: Hi Kuweni. ‘Reverberations’ is quite an ambitious and personal project, can you tell us about the concept and the thinking behind the work?

Kuweni Dias Mendis: ‘Reverberations’ is the effect that spreads and impacts a lot of people. This work is my story of belonging in Australia, the hardships that have faced a migrant woman who left her mother, motherland, and her mother tongue at the tender age of 19 to come to Australia. In the process I almost lost myself in trying to fit in and finally through the connection to the land and its original people I remembered who I was born to be.

Kuweni Dias Mendis: The film, made with Jude Kalman from Little Drum Pictures, is autobiographical, telling my story through words and performance. The performance artwork is also autobiographical, responding through movement to the live music of Tsoof Baras (drums), Daniel Philippe (piano), and Menaka Thomas (vocals), with choreography from Mohiniattam dancer Bindu Rajendren. Finally the participatory art experience engages the audience by inviting them to share each of their belonging stories through symbolic drawing, creating an ephemeral art work together and installing it in nature.

Kuweni Dias Mendis: The process of decolonization began about four years ago when I started walking with Elders here in Australia. They taught me how to ‘walk Country’ and respond to it. Through this journey, I reconnected with my own rhythm, gait, and sense of time and space, experiencing life within a decolonized body. The Elders gifted me a new lens, a different way of seeing the world. Decolonizing the mind happened organically, moving beyond Western frameworks and embracing the unlearning of beliefs that placed Western thinking above the ways of the East. Born in a brown body within a country with a culture spanning thousands of years, yet shaped by the impact of colonization by three nations, I was raised and educated in a post-colonial system. Before this journey, my hopes, dreams, and aspirations were deeply influenced by Western ways of thinking.

Kuweni Dias Mendis: In these cultural practices nothing is transactional. Respect and trust is earned over time and you own nothing. Knowledge is given to you only if you are capable of holding that particular knowledge system. It’s taken me time to build these relationships and a lot of courage to be wrong. It takes someone to be humble enough to get things wrong. I have been courage enough to be wrong yet know that I am not here to be right but to get it right by trial and error.

Kuweni Dias Mendi ‘Reverberations’
3:00pm, Sunday 20 October
Queenland Multicultural Centre
Find out more and get tickets

Image courtesy of Little Drum Pictures.