“SAADA Became Home.” Mayanthi Jayawardena on her Dreamscape Mural
All photos courtesy of Mayanthi Jayawardena
For 15 years, the non-profit organization SAADA (South Asian American Digital Archive) has been building a virtual space to contain and disseminate the stories of South Asian Americans. They have the largest publicly accessible archive of South Asian American stories, over a million visitors to their web site, original essays about South Asian America in TIDES, an online magazine—and now they have their own office space in Philadelphia, complete with art on the walls.
When I found out that the art included a mural, I reached out to the muralist, multi-disciplinary artist Mayanthi Jayawardena. here’s what she had to say about her art and about the creation of this mural.
I became an artist after working in public health as a sexual violence prevention specialist for roughly nine years. I needed an outlet to process this very heavy work so I turned to art. I found myself coming back to art more and more and eventually, when my career became too much for me (Friendly reminder: pay attention to your body!), I leaned fully into art. I have never looked back as I have found that I can still make a difference through art.
My favorite forms of art are acrylic painting, murals, children’s book illustrations, and photography. I get lost in all of these worlds and it keeps me on my toes. I feel like I’ve created a world of endless possibilities.
I learned about SAADA when I was selected as a participant for their social media workshop in New York. I was so honored to be in a room alongside such wonderful South Asian leaders to learn about the SAADA mission and how we could help further it. The workshop was one of the first times that I felt amongst my community in the United States (I grew up in the Midwest as one of few people of color and have since been searching to find where I belong). SAADA became family. After the workshop I was so honored to be contacted by Samip about the mural. I was thrilled and immediately said yes.
Coming up with the design was such a fun part. Samip and Danbi had such a great idea of adding flora and fauna from South Asian counties as well as objects that reminded folks of their transition from South Asia to the United States. They reached out to their stakeholders to ask for personal suggestions. Once we consolidated the list I began coming up with the design. I think the hardest part about creating the designs were consolidating the lists. All of the ideas were wonderful and I wanted to paint them all.
I imagined this dreamscape including everything but we didn’t want the mural to be too busy so we chose 10 of each. What we landed on was a true collaboration between the team and the stakeholders and I loved it!
I think that the biggest takeaway that I gained from this project was that creating art that is meaningful is very important to me. I want to continue to create meaningful art for incredible organizations such as SAADA. Working with SAADA was like finding a home I never knew that I had. After leaving my career in public health, I used to wonder if I would ever find that fulfillment in art. What I am pleased to say is that I have found advocacy through art and I have found that the work that I do is, in fact, very much in line with public health and advocacy. I hope to continue to grow my impact as I gain more experience and find new ways to make a difference.
Uma: I’ve long been a SAADA fan. It turns out that many of us stakeholders had memories of jasmines, from all over the subcontinent! So there they are, those little starry flowers that hold my most indelible sensory experiences of place and time.
I love that little suitcase as well. It’s such an ordinary, everyday object, and so filled with meaning.
Thanks, Mayanthi, for this beautiful mural, and for sharing your experience of creating it.
