• SL-US wildlife artist, conservationist, and storyteller Gamini Ratnavira on the importance of seeing nature as a gift to mankind

What if every brushstroke could preserve a species? And what if one artist – born amidst the birdsong and banyans of Sri Lanka – carried that wild spirit halfway across the world and back again? 

Gamini Ratnavira has designed Sri Lanka’s National Park logo, painted the country’s postage stamps, illustrated wildlife for generations and filled galleries from Colombo to California, US, with the soul of the natural world. 

On ‘Kaleidoscope Dialogues’, we journeyed into the vivid, untamed universe of the Sri Lankan-American wildlife artist, conservationist and storyteller, Gamini Ratnavira, whose ‘Brushes with Nature’ remind us that art is not just seen, but that it is felt, protected, and lived.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

You shuttle between Sri Lanka and the US. How has that shaped your artistic vision and identity?

I started the wildlife part in Sri Lanka, as a Sri Lankan. I was happy with myself and happy that I was able to share my work. But, in the US, I faced many more challenges, and it pushed me to correct my style. I am self-taught. The material I found there, including the research, enhanced my growth; like growing a tree and putting more fertiliser into what I inherently had.

What were the challenges? 

The competition was very high. There are over 15 million artists trying to make a living. That included me. So, that was a challenge. But, one of the things that helped me was that while I painted a wide variety of subjects, my focus was on rainforests and tropical wildlife.

I immediately fell into a different category there, because most of the artists painted their local wildlife. But, I had a wider range, and I had travelled a lot, so I had an even bigger range than most. Sri Lankans have an adventurous drive to go out and find new things – and that was my edge.

Being Sri Lankan, did that give you a competitive edge?

It gave me a slightly different angle from the rest of the artists. I live in California, which is basically a desert. But, people there bring plants from everywhere to grow in their gardens because they love the green and besides the plants, like paintings of greenery. That was my advantage.

Being a self-taught artist, how did you develop this very detailed style that you have?

I paint every day. One of the most important things I learnt was that painting comes second in my life, while my love for nature came first. I’m very inquisitive about details. 

When I look at a species or a plant or a bird, I look at the finer details – the feet, how the toes are placed, the colours of the eyes, etc. I have quite a bit of knowledge about that because I also have a photographic memory.

When I was growing up, we didn’t have television, and cameras were difficult to come by, so what I observed in the wild is the most important thing that I stored in my memory.

Going so deep into the subject, what are some of the surprising things that you’ve discovered?

Well, for instance, when it comes to birds, sparrows or passerines, birds have three toes forward and one toe backward. Owls have two toes forward and two backward. Parrots also have two forward and two backward because they use them like hands. But, the owl can move one toe back or forward, so it can be three toes or two toes when they grab their prey.

Then, there’s the colour of the eyes and the shape of the beak. The long, curved beak of sunbirds to feed on flowers, parrots that chew and grind; all those little things matter. Everything counts when you’re painting nature. Accuracy matters.

I first sketched because what I drew didn’t look like what I saw, but I kept on doing it. My head was my camera. That’s why I go into such detail because if you’re going to share something, it has to have purpose. If I can share the lessons that I learned from looking at something, then I’ve done my job. 

How important is art in conservation?

It is most important. When you take a book as a child or an adult, it is first the cover that will interest you to turn the page. Similarly, when you use art as a subject of interest, it is the illustrations that draw you in. If something is intriguing, art can depict it better than anything else. 

What have your collaborations with Rohan Pethiyagoda and Madhura de Silva taught you about art and environmentalism?

People like Pethiyagoda, who have studied deep into this area and contributed so much to nature, and de Silva too show me how much people are willing to give time and knowledge to move forward. Having spent a lot of time in the wild, my whole life was moulded by nature.

So, what’s the use of that if I’m not going to share it? 

I’ve illustrated the birds of Sri Lanka, the mammals of Sri Lanka and just completed the freshwater fish of Sri Lanka. Next year (2026), I hope to publish the endemic birds and redo the birds of Sri Lanka.

We have also begun the Field Ornithology Group with Prof. Sarath Kotagama. This has gone far with the younger generation discovering new species. 

How has your art evolved from the time that you started, and what are you seeing now?

I never stopped learning. Every day, at 4 a.m., I’m at my easel, painting. Every day, I want to put the paintbrush on the canvas or paper. So, it’s practice. I learn how to blend colours. I learn about colours. Even though I had no education in art, what better way to learn than from nature? 

I also study feathers. For example, birds with blue feathers in real life have no blue or green feathers. It’s the structure of the feather refracting pigments into the cornea of our eyes. I learned how to recreate that. 

I paint what I see and to do that I have to study nature. That’s been my journey from the beginning.

What challenges and joys do you have when painting Sri Lanka’s biodiversity with such authenticity?

The challenge is to express the feelings of the species, not just to make a flat illustration – basically to give life to a painting. And, to do that, I study the environment, the features, the atmosphere, the light, and the time that animals are born. I try to bring the whole picture and create a window to nature.

Sri Lanka amazes me all the time. Species once only in the hills now appear in Colombo. Their adaptation is uplifting. Even when humans struggle to adjust, animals somehow work it out. I’m optimistic. I don’t want to say that the world is falling apart. We must adjust to accommodate them, not the other way around. Those are my challenges.

What has been the most challenging animal or part of biodiversity that you painted?

The challenge is learning about it before painting it. There was so little information when I started as a child. So, my challenge was to find reasons and excuses for a species to survive in certain environments. That was my first goal – find its habitat and habits. Now, when I paint, these things are still on my mind.

I can paint something that I saw 50 years ago. For example, 50 years ago, I was walking on the plains and came face-to-face with a black leopard six feet away. It wasn’t recognised widely in Sri Lanka then. I’m not a scientist, so, I didn’t make a big issue of it. Now, we know that they’re found all over. I just sat down. She sat down. We looked at each other. I observed her claws, face, and structure, trying to figure out if it was male or female. About 10 minutes later, she got up and walked away.

If you appreciate something, you protect it, so my challenge is to give without hurting anything or anyone.

What is the most memorable feedback that you’ve received from someone who isn’t Sri Lankan?

Most artists do about 20 paintings a year; I do about 200 a year, so I spread the word through my paintings. I haven’t had a single person criticise my work or say that they hate it. If someone says that they like a painting, it means that they are looking at something and learning something. That’s my purpose – to enhance nature by getting people to admire it. 

What is artificial intelligence (AI) doing – or what will AI do – for artists like you?

Sometimes, I go on Wikipedia or some other site for reference and for instance, if I open ‘blue magpie’, there is a photograph of a beautiful blue magpie. Then suddenly, I see a blue magpie with purple; AI created it.

If an artist or scientist wants to learn about a subject, they need to do a lot more work before relying on AI because it doesn’t go deep enough to identify a species or environment properly. It can be negative or positive, but, if you’ve done even a little fieldwork, you can pick out the errors. If I punch in ‘Asian elephant’, half the photos or AI-generated images are of African elephants, so it confuses you.

Before we get to the computer, we need to see and study the real thing.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media)