Retired kolu dolls make a comeback

Each doll in Renu Sabanayagam kolu collection now can share an account of how wholesomeness was restored to it. When Renu picked them up, these dolls were lying in dingy cubbyholes and dusty antique stores, broken in body. Missing body parts had to be reconstructed and glued on to their frames, which were usually hugely lacklustre, requiring deft dabs of an enamel paint-carrying brush. Renu, who is an artist, has made them whole again in an ongoing do-it-yourself project (est. 2018). In her own words, this project (entirely a hobby to her) has so far notched up a tally somewhere between 200 and 300 dolls, each of them restored variously.