welcome to hardtalk, with me, zainab badawi. i'm just outside colombo, the capital of sri lanka. this beautiful island nation has been plunged into its worst economic crisis for more than 70 years. it led to widespread protests and forced the resignation of the president last year. and all this after a long—running civil war in which around 100,000 died. i'm at the home and studio of one of sri lanka's most influential artists and activists, jagath weerasinghe. can sri lankans put behind them their bloody past and forge a new and united future? jagath weerasinghe, welcome to hardtalk. i'm happy to be here. sitting here in your home, which is also your studio, i wonder how far you've been influenced as both an artist and an archaeologist by sri lanka's past? i'm totally influenced by that. i'm totally, yes. everything i do has something to do with the past of sri lanka and the idea of the past, that we keep performing in the present. yeah. but it's notjust sri lanka's past, it's a particularly bloody past that you choose to focus on. why? that is what i call the history of the pre

welcome to hardtalk, with me, zainab badawi. i'm just outside colombo, the capital of sri lanka.widespread protests and forced the resignation of the president last year. and all this after a long—running civil war in which around 100,000 died.