Muhanned Cader

Muhanned Cader was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) (1994), recipient of Sri Lanka Presidents’ award for excellence in the arts Kala Suri (2005) and Bunka Award (2004). He has taught at Vibhavi Academy of Fine Art, Colombo, from 1996-2006, held the positions of Artist-in- Residence at the National College of Arts, Lahore (2002, 2004) and has been a regular visiting lecturer at the Ramanathan Academy of Fine Arts, University of Jaffna.

Muhanned’s work emerges from a practice that is both experimental and open-ended and at the same time attentive to the fragmented and the overlooked. His work is distinctly recognisable by the use of irregular shaped surfaces that break free from the constraints of the rectangular frame. While he shares a deep fascination with the natural world, Muhanned has been drawing, painting and photographing the ocean that he uses as a metaphor for life on an island, its fractured politics, factionalism, histories of colonialism, and environmental degradation. For Tonight No Poetry Will Serve Muhanned presents a set of oil paintings and a photo collage that bears witness to some of the worst ecological disasters in Sri Lanka - many that the artist sees as a direct consequence of political arrogance and total disregard for nature.

Muhanned’s select solo exhibitions are I See Sea, Talwar Gallery, New York (2019), Island, Talwar Gallery, New Delhi (2016), Jungle Tide at Talwar Gallery, New York (2014), Casting Light, Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo (2010), Drawing Sculpture, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo (2007), Landscapes, Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore (2004), 79 days in Lahore, Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore (2002), In Black & White, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo (2001) and Nightscapes, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo (1999). His select group shows include Sea Change, Colomboscope, Colombo (2019), Structures of Meaning- Architectures of Perception, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi (2019), Invitation to Action, Lahore Biennale (2018), One Hundred Thousand Small Tales, Dhaka Art Summit (2018) and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Colombo (2019), Whorled Explorations, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014), Considering Collage, Jhaveri Contemporary (2013), Lines of Control, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University and Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University (2012-14), I Think It Rains, 1a space, Cattle Depot, Hong Kong (2013), Drawn from Life, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal (2011), Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka, Asia House, London (2011), One Year Drawing Project, 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), Queensland Art Gallery (2009), Imagining Peace, Colombo Art Biennale CAB, Colombo (2009), first Singapore Biennale Belief (2006) and the first Khoj International Artists Workshop Exhibition, New Delhi (1997).

Muahnned’s work is a part of numerous private collections in Sri Lanka, as well as the Burger Collection, Hong Kong; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; Kirin Nader Museum, New Delhi; Samdani Art Foundation Collection, Dhaka; and Herbert Johnson Museum, Cornell University, New York.

Muhanned Cader lives and works in Galle, Sri Lanka.