You will be forgiven when- walking into the exhibition Boys Own - you find yourself thinking: what in a million years could be so interesting about a series of photos of adolescent boys? There is after all nothing exclusive about them. We see them everywhere, in schools, on the street, in clubs, on the bus, in our homes; friendly, funny and obnoxious creatures who seem unconscious of what goes on outside their immediate sphere of interest.
And that is why the show is so interesting: we adults rarely stand to reflect on the anxieties, restlessness and uncertainties of adolescence and the 'growing pains' of boys growing up.
Artist /photographer Menika Vanderpoorten has portrayed her own two sons and their friends
in a way that is both a documentary and a personal commentary on the life of boys in contemporary urban Sri Lankan society. She sees them not only as an artist, but mainly as a mother and a woman.
In the exhibition catalog she explains: "Not only are my sons constantly growing and going through profound changes, but I also find myself changing in the way I relate/react to them ...It's a universal experience but also very personal"
The portraits show boys in various moods and poses which boys are typically associated with. Still each pose clearly reveals the conflicting emotions of these young kids, who are only a step away from the realm of testosterone & Axe body products. As Vanderpoorten observes: being a boy is a two-way mirror. It is more difficult for them to be masculine, then it is for girls to be femine".
Vanderpoorten studied photography at the John Cass School in London and University of Westminster,UK. She is one of the very few Sri Lankan photographers who engages in Art photography.
The exhibition is open from 9- 26 November at the Red Dot Gallery, Baddegana Road South in Pita Kotte.
kOOii is organizing visits to the show with the artist present.
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