With NEMESIS de Silva transforms familiar landscapes into sites of mystery, unease and psychological tension. Through meticulously choreographed tableaux that evoke dread, mortality and the uncanny, the photographs construct imagined narratives that blur the boundaries between reality and fiction. Themes rooted in childhood anxieties—solitude, helplessness, blindness, fire, death and monsters—recur throughout the series, giving rise to theatrical scenes that draw upon folklore, myth and collective memory.

The work is informed by the dreamlike worlds of Bosch and Bruegel, the psychological intensity of Francis Bacon, the emotional gravity of Géricault, and the uncanny imagination of Arthur Tress, Duane Michals and Joel-Peter Witkin. Within these influences, de Silva creates enigmatic images that propose impossible events and alternate realities. Moments of tranquillity are disrupted by what Roland Barthes described as the punctum—an unexpected detail that unsettles the viewer and fractures the apparent certainty of the image. As Jeff Wall reconstructs narrative and Gregory Crewdson uncovers disquiet within the familiar, de Silva employs allegory and metaphor to invite contemplation, speculation and enquiry.

Photographed across Thailand, China, Japan and Cambodia over many years, NEMESIS extends de Silva's ongoing exploration of veneration, mortality and the human condition. Each large-format work is painstakingly constructed through the fusion of staged performance and long-exposure nocturnal landscapes, resulting in images that are both cinematic and psychologically charged. Rich in symbolism and layered with ambiguity, the photographs resist fixed interpretation, inviting viewers to construct their own narratives within these imagined worlds.