T. Vinoja was born in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka (1991). The artist holds a BA in Fine Arts from Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the Eastern University, Batticaloa, and she currently attends Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. She is an active member of the Artists for Nonviolent Living Collective, which exhibits widely in Sri Lanka as it seeks to engage local audiences in addition to those affected by Sri Lanka’s civil war. A strong believer in the healing and transformative powers of artistic process and community, she is determined to bring out the stories of those who are most impacted and marginalised.
Vinoja’s trajectory as an artist has been shaped by internal displacement and forced migration since childhood. Her textile art, drawings and installations examine how sites and material archives convey experiences of loss, forced abandonment and shattered realities, especially during the final chapter of the civil war in Sri Lanka’s North Eastern province and its prolonged aftermath.