People

Trustees

  • Emeritus Chair

    Sunethra Bandaranaike has worked as a researcher in the Minority Rights Group and the Overseas Development Institute and formerly held the post of Coordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. She serves as the chairperson at the Sunera Foundation, an NGO established in 2000 which works with differently-abled youth and adults. She was a trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts from November 1990 to February 2019, and was a close personal friend of Geoffrey Bawa.

  • Chairperson

    Channa joined Geoffrey Bawa’s architecture practice in 1991 and was the last partner of the firm. In 1998, he established MICD Associates, where he is a principal, in partnership with Murad Ismail. Channa was the Chairperson of the Galle Heritage Foundation and has worked on a number of architectural, conservation and curatorial projects, including the Corridors of Power Installation which was exhibited at the most recent Dhaka Art Summit in 2018. Channa authored and edited Sri Lanka Style (2005) has written for and edited a number of publications including A+U and Sri Lanka Institute of Architects’ Journal. Channa is the chairperson of the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts.

  • Trustee

    Chamika began his architectural career at MICD Associates and continues to practice at the firm as a Senior Associate. In 2016 he embarked on his own practice as the Principal Architect of C Atelier Consultants and CDA Associates. He has worked on numerous architectural and restoration projects of which one was the recipient of the Conde Nast Johansens Award for Excellence in 2020 – 21. He has also been involved in several curatorial projects in Sri Lanka including the exhibitions Second Skin in March 2017 and Revive; Ethical Use of Material in June 2017 in collaboration with the Colombo Fashion Week. In 2019 he also curated One Won in collaboration with the University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo in the aftermath of the Easter Attacks in Sri Lanka He is a Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and the Lunuganga Trust.

  • Trustee

    Nadija Tambiah is a Barrister at Law (Middle Temple), UK and an Attorney at Law in Sri Lanka. She sits on the Group Executive Committee and heads the Legal and Company Secretarial functions of the John Keells Group, the largest diversified conglomerate in Sri Lanka. She also heads the John Keells Foundation its corporate social responsibility arm. She serves as a member of the Steering Committee on Arbitration and Mediation at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. She is a Trustee of the George Keyt Foundation, Geoffrey Bawa Trust, Lunuganga Trust, a member of the Executive Committee of the Colombo Museum of Modern Art and sits on the Council of the Sri Lankan Institute of Directors.

  • Trustee

    Sanjay Kulatunga, a former Regional Analyst at Jardine Fleming Hong Kong, is cofounder and CEO of Lynear Wealth Management, one of the largest independent private wealth management firms in the country. He was a Founder Director of Amba Research Lanka and is an Independent Director of Expolanka PLC, a global diversified conglomerate rooted in Sri Lanka. Sanjay has served as President of the CFA Society of Sri Lanka, a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and on the Financial Sector Stability Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He currently serves as a Member of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

  • Trustee

    Suhanya was appointed Executive Director of M+ in November 2016. Her curatorial career began in 1984 and she has over 30 years of experience as a museum curator and leader. Prior to joining M+, Suhanya was Deputy Director and Director of Collections at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia and Acting Director of the Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art, Australia. She is a Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust and the Lunuganga Trust, and a Board Member of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM). She was awarded the Chevalier in the Ordres des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2020.

  • Trustee

    Ward currently works in a global management capacity, with the multinational Oil and Gas company, Total SE. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London. In addition to his extensive commercial background, Ward was a close family friend and associate of Geoffrey Bawa from a very early age and was one of the earliest trustees appointed to both the Geoffrey Bawa and the Lunuganga Trusts.

Curatorial Team

  • Shayari de Silva

    CHIEF CURATOR

    Shayari de Silva joined the Geoffrey Bawa Trust in 2018, and has curated several exhibitions including The Gift, part of the Bawa 100 Centennial Celebration, and It is Essential to be There, the first exhibition to present the Geoffrey Bawa Archives. She edited the Trust’s publication Geoffrey Bawa: Drawing from the Archives (Lars Müller Publishers, 2023) and co-edited Perspecta 51: Medium, the Yale Architecture Journal (MIT Press, 2018). Shayari obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University and has worked previously at the Yale Art Gallery and Yale Centre for British Art, where she was a Bartels Scholar in Building Conservation.

  • Thilini Perera

    DESIGN AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

    Thilini Perera is a multidisciplinary designer. She currently holds the position of Design and Communications Manager for the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, and is the book designer for Geoffrey Bawa: Drawing from the Geoffrey Bawa Archives, published by Lars Müller Publishers in 2023. She helps conceptualise on-site and online projects including the year-long Bawa 100 programme and co-designed the first public exhibition of the Geoffrey Bawa archives, It Is Essential to be There, held in Colombo in 2022.

  • Shanika Perera

    PROGRAMMES MANAGER

    Shanika Perera joined the Geoffrey Bawa Trust in 2019 as Programme Manager. She executed the inaugural Open House Colombo in 2022, organised by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, as part of the Open House Worldwide network. She is an ARThink South Asia (ATSA) fellow for 2017–2018, where she participated in a management, policy and research programme in the arts and cultural sector. She helped produce multiple editions of the interdisciplinary art festival Colomboscope from 2016-2022.

  • Aneesha Mustachi

    ASSISTANT CURATOR

    Aneesha Mustachi formally trained as an architect in Colombo, Sri Lanka and following her masters degree joined the Geoffrey Bawa Trust in 2021. She works in the Geoffrey Bawa Archives and has assisted in sourcing archival materials for the exhibition It Is Essential to be There and the book Geoffrey Bawa: Drawing from the Geoffrey Bawa Archives.

  • Sathira Imaduwage

    DESIGN AND COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT

    As a graduate in the field of visual communication, Sathira Imaduwage joined the Geoffrey Bawa Trust to assist with design and communications for on-site and online projects. His design practice is marked by a deep interest in typography, experiential design and editorial design.