Uvindu is an award-winning journalist and freedom of expression activist currently in exile from Sri Lanka. He has painted throughout his life and, since joining the Open Art Studio, paints regularly. He finds art-making to be a form of therapy, which has helped him understand and express his emotions and his experience of violence in Sri Lanka's brutal civil war. His paintings have been exhibited at the Royal Institute of Great Britain and sold in their auction. His work has also been exhibited at Emmanuel Church Hall in Finsbury Park. Uvindu says: "Since I joined the Studio, I've had a chance to meet people who were physically and mentally tortured from all around the world. It was a great experience. After all, the Open Art Studio is a soft place to fall."
Open to all: Freedom from Torture’s Open Art Studio
Each week a room at Freedom from Torture’s London centre is transformed into an open art studio – a buzzy space where torture survivors meet to make art. Clients re-visit their interest in art or develop a new skill, growing their confidence in a social setting.
None of us know what we can do unless we are given the opportunity. We don’t know what is yet to be discovered inside us."
~ Art therapist, Tania Kaczynski
Open art gallery
View works by Open Art studio artists by clicking on the previous and next tabs below. View enlarged versions of the artwork by clicking on the thumbnails.
