Awantha Artigala: Sri Lanka’s quiet cartoonist
For someone relatively new to game – he published his first piece in 2006 – he has gone farther, and faster, than anyone else in his generation.
by Smriti Daniel
( July 7, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The first time I asked Awantha Artigala for an interview, he laughed and said no. This was partly because we communicated in staccato, he in English (my first language) and I in Sinhala (his first language), both of us struggling to frame sentences. So the second time I asked, I decided to go through a friend who I was hoping would also be an informal referee for me, and eventually a translator. Artigala agreed but we didn’t manage to meet that day. His phone was off and none of our mutual acquaintances had heard from him. It was also the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in Sri Lanka and everyone, even a newspaper cartoonist, must be allowed to enjoy this long holiday.
