Engineer, artist, advocate: Wimansa Jayasekara's sustainable practice

Wimansa Jayasekara has been painting since she was three years old. Growing up in a family of artists in Sri Lanka, she went on to win international awards and run art workshops for children, before embarking on a career as a civil engineer. Now studying for a Master of Sustainable Practice at Ara Institute of Canterbury, she's found a way to bring both worlds together. 

"Studying sustainable practice has been the best investment I've ever made," she said. "It changed not just how I think about my work as an engineer, but how I understand my responsibility to environmental, social, economic and cultural outcomes in every project." 

Jayasekara came to New Zealand to study Ara's Master of Sustainable Practice after nearly a decade working across housing, infrastructure and industrial projects in Sri Lanka. 

It was professional experience that sharpened her thinking about what was missing. "In my previous workplaces, most of my work involved meeting tight targets and focusing on profits," she said. "That made me realise I needed to study sustainability as a holistic subject." 

Faye Wilson-Hill, Jayasekara's kaiako (lecturer), said Jayasekara brought technical expertise and genuine environmental commitment to her study. 

"Her ability to connect sustainability principles to both professional practice and community engagement, through her engineering background and her art, is exactly the kind of holistic thinking this programme is designed to develop." 

The programme has delivered more than Jayasekara expected. A favourite milestone was a real-world group project with Waimakariri District Council, in which her group explored how community-based sustainability hubs could contribute to future sustainability initiatives across the district. The project, Sustainability Hubs: Community-Driven Models for Local Impact, involved site visits, meetings with council partners, and research into national and international hub models, examining their environmental, social and economic benefits and identifying practical resourcing options such as volunteer networks and existing community spaces. 

"It was an amazing opportunity to see a real problem, apply what I had learned, and gain a lot of knowledge through research and collaboration," she said. 

But the deeper shift has been personal. "At the beginning, I focused on applying sustainability in my career," she reflected. "As a student in my final semester, I've realised the most meaningful part of my study has been what I've discovered about myself." 

That transformation extends into her art. Working primarily in mixed media, Jayasekara connected with Envirohub, a Christchurch community space supporting environmental action and creativity, and created two large sustainability-focused works for their co-working space. The Living Ocean draws viewers into a marine ecosystem of corals, jellyfish and rays, exploring the ocean's role as the planet's largest oxygen producer. Voices of Nature celebrates Aotearoa's native biodiversity through pīwakawaka, tūi and native flora, exploring the fragility and richness of the natural environment. 

"Sustainability has taught me to use art as a tool to raise awareness, inspire action, and make a meaningful impact," she said. "Sharing my artwork through Envirohub showed me how sustainability learning can extend beyond the classroom and be expressed in visible, community-focused ways." 

Looking ahead, Jayasekara hopes to bring principles learned at Ara, including Life Cycle Thinking, Cradle to Cradle and Circular Economy into her engineering practice, and to continue using art as a bridge to community engagement. 

"I want to create outcomes that are good for both people and the environment," she said. "Art is a great way to connect with people and raise awareness about sustainability because it's something everyone can enjoy and relate to." 

Find out more about Ara's Master of Sustainable Practice or explore our Sustainability and Outdoor Education programmes.