📚 Join us for two evenings of book presentations as part of Sister Library, hosted within the exhibition Empowerment: Arts and Feminisms. Led by Indigenous artist Aqui Thami, Sister Library is a vibrant art initiative that reimagines the library as a feminist space—merging literature with community to honor the creativity of women writers, artists, and zine makers.
🌍 In Sri Lanka, the project is funded by the Franco-German Cultural Fund and presented in partnership with Everystory Sri Lanka, an organization amplifying underrepresented voices through literature. Everystory has contributed Sri Lankan works to the collection, while the Goethe-Institut and Alliance Française have added feminist literature from Germany and France, translated into English.
📖 Across two evenings, we’ll share favorite titles from the bookshelf. Stefan Winkler, Director of the Goethe-Institut, will reflect on reading science fiction—traditionally male-dominated—and spotlight Sultana’s Dream by Rukeya Hussain, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, and Kindred by Octavia Butler. He’ll also introduce Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah and Utopias of the Third Kind by Vandana Singh.
👥 On the second evening, Thadini Liyanage and Raeesa Samsudeen from Everystory will lead a session on The Vegetarian by Han Kang. They will be joined by Cécile Hoorelbeke and Vidura Rodrigo from Alliance Française de Colombo, who will present their favorites, including Frozen Women by Annie Ernaux and Poems of the First Buddhist Women, translated by Charles Hallisey.
🎨 The event is part of the public programme of Empowerment: Art and Feminisms, a travelling South Asian exhibition featuring 31 feminist artists and collectives. On view from 4–11 August 2025 at JDA Perera Gallery, the show explores gender, identity, care, resistance, and inclusion. It is curated by Andreas Beitin, Katharina Koch, and Uta Ruhkamp, and co-produced by Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai.
