Born 1990, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Lives and works in Jaffna

Through her distinctive ink drawings, Jasmine Nilani Joseph interrogates the process of land being demarcated, divided and inhabited, constructing snaking features of buildings, fences and other structural and natural boundaries. Her most recent series was inspired by the 2017 government release of land in Jaffna, including the site of her ancestors’ village, which was previously maintained as a high-security zone. At the beginning of 2018, the artist’s family was finally able to visit their old home and see the forest that had grown around the abandoned houses over more than 20 years.

In a series of 15 connected drawings, the artist contemplates a sense of belonging and reflects on experiences of absence in her life and the community around her, constructing a unique picture of the rural and village landscapes of northern Sri Lanka.