Hyderabad| Artist Raki Nikahetiya explores themes of migration and memories, from Sri Lanka to Austria

Raki Nikahetiya’s artworks exploring migration and memories, from Sri Lanka to Austria, on view at Hyderabad’s Kalakriti art gallery

Raki Nikahetiya’s artworks are multidisciplinary, combining painting, embroidery and applique on textiles — and some of them are hung from the ceiling of Kalakriti Art Gallery. This is the Austrian-Sri Lankan artist’s first exhibition in Hyderabad. Viewing the artworks, I thought about the practical ease with which the textile artworks can be transported. I was not off the mark. During the walkthrough preview, the artist points at a large suitcase and says, “All the artworks would fit in here.”

The choice of material — primarily textile and occasionally small marble inlay works — is dictated by the theme of migration and his mother’s love for textile techniques such as applique. The exhibition titled The Migrant Memory dwells on migration, integration, memory and cultural belonging. 

The artworks are inspired by Raki’s childhood memories of growing up in Kandy, Sri Lanka, from where his family moved to Austria, as the civil war intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “When you are young and your sense of identity is not fully formed, you do not have a definite narrative of who you are and where you belong. When you move to a new place, you try to piece together the puzzle,” says Raki. 

Discussing migration in the context of both animals and the human race, he muses, “Migration has been natural for birds, animals and even humankind before we became an agrarian society. I consider migration as both personal and universal.”

Born in Sri Lanka in 1983, his childhood memories are of his father working at a university in Kandy. “I was about five years old when the civil war grew intense and many lost their lives, including my father’s colleagues. Although my father was not politically engaged, he had to choose to move. My grandmother had friends in Austria, so it seemed like a natural choice.” 

Raki remembers his family moving out of Sri Lanka thinking it would be for two months, but it extended to 25 years. Raki recently decided to return to Sri Lanka.

His recent series of artworks draws from his memories of Sri Lanka. “When we left, our belongings were in two suitcases; it felt as though we had everything we needed. It gave us the flexibility to move and a sense of freedom.”