tappi odu (flee) தப்பி ஓடு

Tappi Odu (Flee), is a new art installation by Tamil artist Anushiya Sundaralingam. The installation explores the collective experiences of Tamil communities and diaspora populations. Nearly three million Sri Lankans live abroad, and one in eight have been forced to leave their homeland. Tappi Odu (Flee) is a testament to those who had to flee, reconnecting Tamil people through a visual narrative of movement and survival.

The installation features images of footprints from countries across the globe. The footprints symbolise how lives uprooted from Sri Lanka have been re-established in different parts of the world. In this work, literal and metaphorical footprints become a symbol of migration, history, and the pursuit of new life. Anushiya Sundaralingam's work aims to evoke the deep emotional weight of walking away from one’s home and the search for new ground. Visitors are invited to take part in a communal piece, where they can leave their own footprints—bare, vulnerable, as a symbol of the universal experience of displacement.

What to know:

• This artist intervention will take place in the Window on Our World gallery.

About

Anushiya Sundaralingam is a Tamil multi-disciplinary artist from Sri Lanka who has lived through the conflict in her homeland. She explores themes of displacement, migration, and the diaspora experience. Although she wasn’t forced to leave, the impact of the civil war that began in July 1983 deeply influences her work. Having relocated to Belfast in 1995, she has created art that reflects the complexity of belonging, identity, and cultural transition.

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