Let Them Eat Cake

Vendors in the Maharagama textile bazaar, in April 2018. Aside from a casually affectionate pose that is rarely seen under today’s social distancing norms, the huge bazaar, sprawling across Maharagama and Pamunuwa, just south of Colombo, has been shut down as part of an ongoing series of local and countrywide lockdowns imposed by the Government of Sri Lanka in May. A year into the pandemic, the population, financially exhausted and psychologically weary, were looking hopefully to the long-awaited Covid vaccine, which was rolled out in March. But governmental mismanagement of the process has ensured relatively few people actually receive their shots. Under attack for their bungling, the government has in turn blamed the public for not following pandemic rules which are often confusing and badly articulated by the authorities. For many, including small businessmen such as these, dependent on a daily income, lockdowns and restrictions on travel can mean financial ruin and are widely seen as a government punishing its people for its own corruption and ineptitude.

Planters’ Tea

Sri Lankan tea plantation industry leaders enjoy a cup of Ceylon Tea. L/R: Johann Rodrigo, CEO Horana Plantations; Dr Roshan Rajadurai, Managing Director, Hayleys Plantations; Bhathiya Bulumulla, CEO Elpitiya Plantations; Anura Weerakoon, CEO Kelani Valley Plantations; and Senaka Alawattegama, CEO Talawakele Tea Estates. Shot on assignment for Save the Children, at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. November 2020.

Rice Merchants, Old Moor Street

Colombo, Sri Lanka. September 2020.

^{*shot with an M6MkII & 15-45mm/3.5-6.3 lens courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Teatime at the Onion Store

Happier times on Keyzer Street, a mere three months ago.

Pimp My Phone, Pettah

Pettah, in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. January 2020.

Businessmen, Maharagama, Sri Lanka

April 2018.

Traders, Manning Market, Pettah #2

Colombo, Sri Lanka. April 2018.

Shopkeepers, Maharagama Textile Bazaar #7

Sri Lanka, April 2018.