About
Irushi Tennekoon (b. 1989) is an animation artist and educator based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her animated films have been screened in local and international festivals, winning several awards. She also regularly conducts workshops on storytelling through illustration and animation from her home studio. Through her collaborative projects with various subject experts, she seeks to highlight important issues ranging from gender and health to the environment and climate change. Her illustrated and animated projects thus educate and entertain in equal measure. She recently graduated with an MA in Animation from the Royal College of Art in London, supported by a Chevening scholarship. Her previous education was in English Studies and she taught undergraduate English for about a decade before pursuing her studio-based artistic practice. Irushi also currently works as a lecturer of Animation at the Academy of Design in Colombo.
Her animated documentary titled ‘is this an architectural documentary?’ (60 min | 2023) based on Architect Minnette De Silva’s (1918-1998) Watapuluwa Housing Scheme, made in collaboration with architects/filmmakers Sumedha Kelegama and Sumudu Athukorala was screened at the ’88 Acres’ exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka from November 2023 to July 2024. The film is the recipient of the prestigious Award for Film and Video awarded by the Society of Architectural Historians (USA), and has been screened at the V&A Museum in London, at Cambridge University’s Siteseeing film screening, the Venice Architecture Biennale (2025) and Thailand Biennale in Phuket (2025-2026).
Her short film series titled Animate Her (2019-2022) features the animated interviews of a group of exceptional women living and working in Sri Lanka. Through modes of stop-motion and experimental animation the Animate Her series brings to life the stories of a marine biologist, a children’s author and illustrator, a wildlife conservationist, a lawyer and activist, a traditional dancer, an architect, and an ICT entrepreneur.
Through her work she highlights everyday stories from Sri Lanka and South Asia with the hope of adding to a wider global discourse on storytelling through moving images.
Gallery Exhibitions and Animation Screening
– Screened animated short films titled ‘Secret Garden’ (2025) and ‘Treasure Tree’ at the Countdown 1 Minute Film Night, at Barefoot Gallery Colombo
– Screening and presentation of hand drawn animation frames at Potpourri group exhibition of contemporary artists, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo (30th September 2025)
– Screened ’83 A very short film, and films from the Animate Her Series at the 24th Fete du Cinema d’Animation at the Alliance Francaise de Colombo (17 October 2025)
– Czech premiere of ‘is this an architectural documentary’? at the Film Architektura festival in the Czech Republic, (October, 2025).
– ‘is this an architectural documentary’? screened at the Venice Architecture Biennale (from May 10 to November 23, 2025) and at the Thailand Biennale, Phuket (November 29, 2025, to April 30, 2026)
– London premier of ‘is this an architectural documentary’? at the Tropical Modernism Exhibition at the V&A Museum in Kensington, London (September 2024)
– Commissioned artist for the exhibition titled, ’88 Acres: The Watapuluwa Housing Scheme by Minnette De Silva’, at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (November 2023 – July 2024)
– Brighton International Animation Festival, April 2023 (Nominated for the Best International Short Film Award)
– Tricky Women/Tricky Realities International Animation Festival, Vienna, March 2023
– Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh, March 2023
– ‘Animate Her’ Film Screening and Exhibition, Colombo, March 2019 & August 2023
– Jaffna International Cinema Festival, 2022 (Won the Best National Short Film Award for ‘The Girl in the Rainwater Tree’ – Dir. Yoshitha Perera)
– Agenda14 Short Film Festival, Colombo, 2022 (Best Animated Short Film, Green Award)
– Beyond Borders Feminist Film Festival Dec, 2022 (India, Online)
– Screen Power Film Festival, London, 2022 (Best International Short Film Award, Best Editing Nomination, Best Music Nomination)
– Jacaranda Tales Film Festival organised by Bangalore Film Society, India, 2022
– EyeMyth Media Arts Festival, India, (2022)
– Jaffna International Cinema Festival, 2021 (Won the Best National Short Film Award)
– Agenda14 Short Film Festival, Colombo, 2021 (Best Animated Short Film Nomination)
– Colombo International Women’s Film Festival, 2021 (Special Jury Mention)
– Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Animation Festival, Austria, (2021)
– Rising Gardens Film Festival, New Delhi, (2021)
– Agenda14 Short Film Festival, Colombo, 2020 (Green Award, Best Animated Short Film Award)
– Women of the World Festivals – WOW Global24 Online Festival, (2020), Creating Heroines Pavilion at WOW Nepal (2019), WOW Southbank Centre, London (2020), South Asia Pavilion WOW Manchester (2024)
– One Hundred Thousand Small Tales, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Colombo, (2019)
– One Hundred Thousand Small Tales, Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh, (2018)
– Agenda14 Short Film Festival, Colombo, 2016 (Best Animated Short Film Award)
– Passion, group exhibition at the Sapumal Foundation, Colombo (2012)
Contact
Get in touch for commissions, facilitating a workshop, or just to say hello! 🙂
Email: irushi@irusdedoodles.com
Education
MA Animation – Royal College of Art, London (2023)
MA English Studies – University of Colombo (2020)
Animation
+ ’83 – A Very Short Film (2016) in collaboration with Sumedha Kelegama and Sumudu Athukorala
+The Animate Her Series, supported by the British Council (2019-2022)
– Asha de vos on Studying Blue Whales
– Amila de Mel on Archiving Architecture
– Sybil Wettasinghe on the Umbrella Thief
– Thaji Dias on Traditional Dance
– Lakmini Wijesundera on Building Global Tech Brands
– Ramani Muttettuwegama on Advocacy for the Disappeared
– Anya Ratnayaka on the Colombo Wetlands and the Urban Fishing Cat
+ Girl in the Rainwater Tree, funded by the British Council and Agenda14’s Female Filmmakers First Grant (2021)
+ Dancing in the Void (2023), collaborative performance of animation, electroacoustics and opera performed at the Royal Academy of Music
+ is this an architectural documentary? (2023) in collaboration with Sumedha Kelegama and Sumudu Athukorala, commissioned by the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka, supported by the British Council Digital Collaboration Fund
+Secret Garden (2025) made for Barefoot 1 minute film night
+ Treasure Tree (2026) made for Barefoot 1 minute film night
+ What is Multiperspectivity? (2026) made for Euroclio with funding from the European Union
Illustration
Selected Published Illustrations
– Art Class Manual for ‘Let’s Build Great Things‘, published by Yarl IT Hub, Jaffna (2023), to be published by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust in 2026
– ‘The benefits of mangroves’, collaboration with Lukas Edbaur, published in the UNDRR Report (2019)
– ‘Rescue Mission’ written by A. Pushparaj, published by Room to Read Sri Lanka (2018)
State Literary Awards – Served in the Judging Panel of the Children’s Literature Category (2024 to present)
Workshops and Talks
– Speaker at ‘Women’s Leadership: Barriers, Strategies and Legacies workshop at ICES, Colombo, Funded by the European Union (21 May 2026)
– Speaker and workshop facilitator at the 24th Fete du Cinema d’Animation at the Alliance Francaise de Colombo (17-18 October 2025)
– DocSkool Documentary Filmmaking Residency (Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct-Nov 2024)
– British Council ‘Creating Heroines’ International Residency and Workshop for female artists, facilitated by comics scholar Dr. Nicola Streeten (Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb 2019)
– Film screening and talk for South Asia Heritage Month at London House, Goodenough College (August 2023)
– Speaker, Galle Literary Festival (January 2024)
– Speaker, Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival, Colombo (May 2024)
– Iru’s Studio Workshop Series (June 2022)
– ‘On The Animate Her Series’ – Virtual Guest Talk for the EyeMyth Media Arts Festival, India (March 2022)
– ‘Connecting to History Through Graphic Novels’ virtual panel discussion organised by Historical Dialogue.lk and the European Association of History Educators (September 2021)
– ‘Stop-motion animation workshop’ at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (January 2020)
– ‘Ocean Heroes Animation Workshop’ marine themed workshop in collaboration with Dr. Asha De Vos of Oceanswell, Colombo (February 2020)
– ‘Stop-motion Animation Workshop’ based on ’83 A Very Short Film conducted for the MENASA Film and New Media Students from the New York University in Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) (Colombo, 2018)