Ena de Silva

Ena de Silva
Born Ena Aluwihare
(1922-10-23)23 October 1922
Matale, Sri Lanka
Died 29 September 2015(2015-09-29) (aged 92)
Matale, Sri Lanka
Nationality Sri Lankan
Spouse(s) Osmund de Silva

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 Lucille Moonemalle.[4][5] In 1941, at nineteen she eloped and married Osmund de Silva, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, who had served under her father and would succeed him as Inspector General of Police[2] (1955 1959). They had two children, a son, Anil Gamini Jayasuriya, also a gifted 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 Bentota Beach Hotel and the Sri Lankan Parliament Building.[5][7] In 1960, she formed a firm with Laki Senanayake, Professor Reggie Siriwardena and her son, Anil Gamini Jayasuriya.[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. 1 2 Kannangara, Yashasvi (24 July 2011). "Ena's kaleidoscope of colour". Sunday Times. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Ena de Silva no more". Sunday Observer. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Maduwage, Shihara (22 October 2015). "An embodiment of feminine power". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 Peebles, Patrick (2015). Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 105. ISBN 9781442255852.
  5. 1 2 Illankoon, Duvindi (8 November 2015). "She inspired, she empowered". Sunday Times. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 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

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