Ena de Silva

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Ena de Silva
Born
Ena Aluwihare

(1922-10-23)23 October 1922
Matale, Sri Lanka
Died29 September 2015(2015-09-29) (aged 92)
Matale, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
Spouse(s)Osmund de Silva
ChildrenAnil Gamini Jayasuriya, Anula Kusum

Ena de Silva (née Aluwihare) (22 October 1922 – 29 October 2015) was a notable Sri Lankan artist,[1][2] credited with re-establishing the country's batik industry.[3]

Family[]

Ena Aluwihare was born on 23 October 1922[3] in Matale, the youngest of two daughters to Sir Richard Aluwihare (1895 – 1976), a civil servant who later served as the first Ceylonese Inspector General of Police (1947 – 1955) and Ceylon's High Commissioner in India (1957 – 1963), and Lady Aluwihare née Lucille Moonemalle.[4][5] In 1941, at nineteen she eloped and married Osmund de Silva, a police officer, who was older than her, who would serve as the personal assistant to her father and eventually succeed him as Inspector General of Police[2] (1955 – 1959). They had two children, a son, Anil Gamini Jayasuriya, also an artist and conservationist, and a daughter, Anula Kusum Gilmour.

Career[]

De Silva studied art in her youth however her artistic career began, after she and her husband approached Geoffrey Bawa in 1960 to design a house for them in Colombo.[4][6] She developed a long term professional relationship with Bawa designing batik tapestries for a number of his buildings, including the and the Sri Lankan Parliament Building.[5][7] In 1960, she formed a firm with Laki Senanayake, Professor Reggie Siriwardena and her son.[1]

In 1964 she established the Matale Heritage Centre, which produced batiks.[3] Following her husband's death she spent two years as a Commonwealth consultant on handicrafts to the British Virgin Islands,[3][6] upon her return she moved back to her ancestral home in Aluwihare in 1982.[3]

De Silva was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust in 2011.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Kannangara, Yashasvi (24 July 2011). "Ena's kaleidoscope of colour". Sunday Times. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Ena de Silva no more". Sunday Observer. 1 November 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e Maduwage, Shihara (22 October 2015). "An embodiment of feminine power". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b Peebles, Patrick (2015). Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 105. ISBN 9781442255852.
  5. ^ a b Illankoon, Duvindi (8 November 2015). "She inspired, she empowered". Sunday Times. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  6. ^ a b Gunawardena, Charles A. (2005). Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 108–109. ISBN 9781932705485.
  7. ^ Daswatte, Channa (27 April 2013). "Travelling with Ena, is an especially enriching experience". The Island. Retrieved 31 October 2016.

Further reading[]

  • Wijesinha, Rajiva (2002). Gilding the Lily: Celebrating Ena de Silva. Colombo: Lunuganga Trust.
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