Sri Lankan artist presents Commonwealth cyanotype to King Charles III

Sri Lankan textile-led fashion designer Ruwanthi Gajadeera today presented an original cyanotype to His Majesty King Charles III at a garden party marking the 125th anniversary of the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship.

The work, titled එක මවකගෙ දරුවෝ (Eka Mawakage Daruwo, Children of One Mother), was presented at the League's house in Bayswater, west London. The gathering brought together the League's trustees and members, Commonwealth delegates and High Commissioners, including H.E. Nimal Senadheera, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and students resident at the house.

The title is inspired by Sri Lanka's national anthem, reflecting a shared belonging across ethnic and religious differences: that we are all children of one mother, whether that mother is read as the land, the island, or humanity. Gajadeera extends this sentiment outward. The composition carries the national flowers of Commonwealth member states, arranged around a crown motif that holds the endangered High Brown Fritillary butterfly.

Gajadeera drew each flower by hand, sensitised the paper by hand, and exposed the print in sunlight alone. The blue appears through a photochemical reaction to light, not through applied dye or pigment, and the process produces no toxic waste, a discipline that runs through her wider work.

She is building her studio practice in London through InnovationRCA, the Royal College of Art's venture accelerator, having completed an MA in Fashion at the College. Alongside this, she works as a facilitator at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin through Circle U., the European university alliance, on art and science research-creation.

The King is patron of the Victoria League. During the visit he spoke with students living at the house and unveiled a plaque. John Steel KC, chairman of the League's trustees, told the gathering: "Your leadership of the Commonwealth we consider to be of incredible importance. So do all the nations of the Commonwealth."

The visit precedes the King's travel to Antigua and Barbuda in November for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in his role as head of the Commonwealth.