A Life in Tea: The Untold Stories of the Malaiyaga Tamil Hill Country Tea Plantation Worker Community – A Solo Art Exhibition by Arulraj Ulaganathan Paying Tribute to Tea Workers / At the Harold Pieris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Center, Colombo, Sri Lanka

A Life in Tea: The Untold Stories of the Malaiyaha Tamil Hill Country Tea Plantation Worker Community – A Solo Art Exhibition by Arulraj Ulaganathan Paying Tribute to Tea Workers / At the Harold Pieris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Center, Colombo, Sri Lanka

– an exhibition showcasing the resilience and heritage of tea workers

CasualWalker’s Rating for A Life in Tea: The Untold Stories of the Malaiyaga Tamil Hill Country Tea Plantation Worker Community:
9.9 – Great / Excellent

How does one find belonging in a place that doesn’t truly belong to them? How does this sense of belonging evolve over time? And how does one find solace in that journey? These are the reflections explored in Arulraj Ulaganathan’s solo art exhibition, which chronicles his experiences as a member of the Malaiyaga / Malaiyaha Tamil hill country tea plantation worker community in Sri Lanka. Through his work, Arulraj addresses the themes of dispossession, landlessness, and a metaphorical journey toward a home that he contributed to but doesn’t fully own or belong to.

Arulraj canvases, created in four series, blend the brown, rusted hues of tea stains with various mediums, including acrylic, pen, pencil, name cards, and leveling knives. These pieces depict the past, present, and future of his community’s struggle.

He specializes in printmaking, drawing, and painting. His visuals tell the stories of struggle and survival experienced by his parents, extended family, and ancestors, all of whom worked as tea plantation laborers. He studied at Haputale Tamil Central College, earned his BFA from Pondicherry University in India, and completed his MFA at the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai. His artistic practice is deeply influenced by the “haunting echoes of colonial tea plantations,” where ecological scars, forced labor, systemic violence, and the restrictive architectures of the Haputale hills linger as painful legacies. This exhibition highlights Arulraj’s journey as an artist who, despite facing numerous obstacles, developed a practice shaped both literally and metaphorically by his upbringing.

This exhibition marks Arulraj’s debut as a solo artist. His previous works have been showcased in group exhibitions, including *Colomboscope: Way of the Forest* (2024), *Fragile: to commemorate the un-commemorated* at the JDA Perera Art Gallery (2023), and the *Kochi Muziris Student Biennale* (2018).

Pullakambura is one of the series, featuring recurring motifs such as the woven basket carried by tea pluckers, from which infants emerge surrounded by tea flowers. This symbolizes Arulraj’s childhood in Haputale, where he recalls the basket as a source of comfort, a representation of his mother’s safety as a tea plantation worker. He spent time waiting for her in a daycare center, or *pullakambura*, a place he remembers as lonely and full of misery.

In the series Into the Tea Forest, the once-small limbs of the infants have grown. However, the protective embrace of the woven baskets has vanished. Their feet now rest on the forest floor, facing the threat of wild animals like venomous snakes, leopards, porcupines, and elephants. The imagery of a forest-covered toilet emphasizes the plight of women tea workers, who lack access to clean sanitation facilities.

In Plain Tea, Arulraj uses acrylic to create vivid compositions of teacups and saucers, drawing on bright yellows and reds. The series begins with a floral-patterned tea set, a symbol of luxury once reserved for colonial officers but never for plantation workers. The rest of the series focuses on the teacups’ contents: leeches, a leaking sanitary pad, and a fetus. These unsettling images symbolize birth and growth amidst the dangers of wild animals and poor sanitary conditions on tea estates. Through these teacups, Arulraj brings to life the unseen and unspoken labor that creates the tea.

The Hidden series portrays the women plantation workers, including Arulraj’s mother, neighbors, and relatives. Created using pen, tea stains, name cards, and a leveling knife, these portraits honor the women who balance the dual roles of homemaker and breadwinner. Their expressive faces, etched with innocent yet brave smiles, are framed by the folk songs once sung by their ancestors as they toiled on the plantations.

About the Artist – Arulraj Ulaganathan

Arulraj was born in 1992 in Haputale, Sri Lanka, and specializes in printmaking, drawing, and painting. The visuals in his works depict stories of struggle and survival experienced by him, his parents, extended family, and ancestors as Malaiyaga Tamil hill country tea plantation workers. Arulraj studied at the Haputale Tamil Central College. He completed his BFA from Pondicherry University, India and his MFA from the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai, India. He describes his practice as one dedicated to the “haunting echoes of colonial tea plantations” and the enduring legacies of ecological scars, forced labor, systemic violence, and restrictive architectures of the Haputale hills. This exhibition celebrates his achievements as an artist who grew up with many obstacles yet developed a practice inspired both literally and metaphorically by such upbringing.

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