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Ambassador Dr Dayan Jayatillake addressing the gathering. S H Sarath, Artist, (left) and Pierre Le Loarer, Chief Librarian & President of the Cultural Activities Committee (right) in the background
‘Life,’ a painting exhibition of the well-known Sri Lankan painter, S H Sarath, was de-clared open at the United Nations premises in Geneva by Pierre Le Loarer, the Chief Librarian and President of the Cultural Activities Committee of the United Nations in Geneva and Dr Dayan Jayatillake, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, with Sanja Jayatillake, Ambassador Jayatillake’s wife, the staff of the UN Cultural Activities Committee, the staff of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka as well as a number of invitees, in attendance.
Pierre Le Loarer said that the UN welcomed the title of the Sri Lankan artist’s exhibi-tion, ‘Life,’ because S H Sarath’s paintings are a hymn to life, love, peace, nature, its conservation and the protection of the environment, values the United Nations upholds fully. He also found the artist’s style to be symbolic, and his perception of life ironic, satirical and almost meditative, at times.
Ambassador Jayatillake described the artist as one of Sri Lanka’s best contemporary painters and stated that it was an honour to have him represent Sri Lanka at the UN Geneva, an opportunity to show the world that Sri Lanka is not only about war. S H Sarath donated one of his paintings to the UN office in Geneva.
