Sumali (Buki)

Reflective Moments is Oil on canvas with gold pigment size 32” (H) x 40” (W)The artist was inspired by the glacier mountains that she experienced when she was on vacation. Reflecting upon the beauty of the picturesque view and the reflective colors brought this painting into the light. The artist desires to bring awareness and remind us all the beauty of nature that one should protect and preserve for generations to come.  Artwork is created using oils, gesso, and gold pigment. The artwork is stretched on a wooden frame and ready to hang. The sides of the canvas are painted as an extension of the artwork.

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About The Artist

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Sumali (Buki) is a self-taught artist from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is an Accountant by profession and her love for art birthed a keen desire to pursue it further, where she gave up her daily work as a financial advisor and took up art professionally. Today, Sumali is an active artist, who develops her own style and artistic identity. She enjoys experimenting with different mediums and textures. The dominant style of her paintings is abstract and differs from traditional techniques to a blend of modern mixed media techniques.

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Sumali’s inspiration is drawn from nature, travel and the surrounding beauty that captures her eye. Her paintings represent freedom, joy, and positivity. Sumali has exhibited her work at Art fairs in Sri Lanka, London, Austria, Madrid, Switzerland, and Sweden. She has had two solo exhibitions to date. She is currently selling her artwork on international platforms and is working with renowned interior designers on diverse projects.

 

Curator Comments

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Glaciers have captured our fantasy for a long time as they are among the most amazing natural wonders of Earth, but in recent times, they have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. In the past few years, global warming has raised serious concerns about the depletion of the Earth’s glacial regions. The average temperature in the Arctic region is rising twice as fast as that measured elsewhere in the world. Due to the rise in the overall temperature of our planet over the last decade, glacial ice is melting at a rapid pace, and our beloved glaciers are receding at an ever-faster rate. It is estimated that 75% of the world’s fresh water supply is locked in glacial ice. Therefore, glacier ice is the second-largest reservoir of water on Earth (after oceans and inland seas) and the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth.

Greenland and Antarctica are home to most of the world's glacial ice. Combined, the two regions contain enough ice that could raise sea levels by nearly 215 feet (65 meters) if it were to melt all at once. Protecting our glacial ice is therefore not only about maintaining its natural beauty but is crucial to our near-term adaptability and our long-term survival.

It is less known that there is a direct link between glacial melt and its impact on vulnerable people. Across the South Asian subcontinent along, approximately1.9 billion people depend upon Himalayan glaciers for drinking water, agriculture, and energy, and as the glaciers’ loss accelerates we’re on a risky trajectory of displacing them and their culture entirely. Persistent droughts, glacier-less mountains, water-less rivers, flash floods, and mountain slopes collapsing from glacial lake outbursts are forcing people to relocate. Peru has lost up to 50% of its glacial ice in the past 3 to 4 decades, and the Himalayas could lose 2/3rd of its glaciers by 2100.

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