Refuge from the Pyre

Oddamavadi, Sri Lanka. October 2023.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/50 • ISO800 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

Dark Kandy

Sri Lanka. October 2018.

^{• 24mm • f/4 • 1/80 • ISO800 • Canon 5DMkIV & EF24-105/4L •}

The Light of Kāmacchanda

Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo. Vesak Poya, May 2023.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/125 • ISO250 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

^{• 50mm • f/2.8 • 1/125 • ISO1000 •}

^{• 35mm • f/2.8 • 1/125 • ISO1250 •}

We Are Risen

As the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year holiday week faded into Good Friday and the dawn of Easter Sunday (the latter itself a poignant and bloody reminder of how the current Sri Lankan regime stormed its way into power), the protesters stayed on at Galle Face Green, in Colombo, unrelenting in their demand that President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his government resign. 17th April 2022. But ‘Gota’ has been equally stubborn in his refusal to quit, keeping his powerful older brother (former President Mahinda Rajapakse) in the PM slot, and merely reshuffling and reappointing his cabinet in what is a clear middle finger to the dissidents. The crippling economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the worst in its modern history, in which the country is suffering widespread shortages in electricity, fuel, cooking gas, medicine, and even food, has been felt most clearly by the middle and working classes, who have turned out at Galle Face in unprecedented numbers, with all ethnicities represented in a show of unity that has loudly voiced its accusations of government ineptitude and corruption. However, with the holidays ending today, and the president deadlocked with the protestors, the battle will return to parliament where, til now, the opposition parties have displayed little more than impotence and a distinct lack of leadership in reflecting the voice of the people in the legislature.

Thank You, Sri Lanka, and Subha Aluth Avurudhak Wewa

On the eve of the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, protestors on Galle Face Green, Colombo, continue to call for the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his entire cabinet. 13th April 2022. Traditionally, a time of hope and new beginnings, this Avurudhu has been blighted by an economic crisis that sees many families struggling to put food on the table. Rampant inflation, and shortages in electricity, cooking gas, fuel, and medicine, has been blamed on an inept and corrupt government led by Rajapakse and his brothers. Even as Sri Lanka declared it was defaulting on its debts, Tuesday, officially announcing bankruptcy, the thousands of protestors gathered in Colombo for the fifth consecutive day will, no doubt, be hoping for some brightness on what is a decidedly dark future.

Patriotic Flavour

In the rain and dark of what is now being called ‘Gotagogama‘, the settlement of tents, field kitchens, and mobile toilets thrown up by the protestors on Galle Face Green, Colombo, a betel seller moves through the crowd, his cry of “Saaaaara-vita!” punctuating the ‘Gota go home!’ chants of the dissidents. 11th April 2022. National flags and colours have been prominent in the demonstrations calling for Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his entire cabinet to resign, accused of corruption and ineptitude, and blamed for a crippling foreign exchange and energy crisis that has seen Sri Lankans suffer rampant inflation and long powercuts, as well as critical shortages of cooking gas, fuel, food, and medicine. Protests that began spontaneously and sporadically in March have grown steadily, culminating in a massive 9th April demonstration in downtown Colombo that claimed as many as a million protestors. After futile cabinet reshuffles and opposition posturing in parliament, the legislature went into recession for the traditional mid-April Sinhalese and Tamil new year holidays. The protestors, however, have vowed to stay, turning what was planned as a 24-hour protest into something set to go on through this holiday week.

Beacon

The lighthouse on Point Utrecht warms up as darkness falls, marking the dangerous rocks of Point de Galle, and the entrance to Galle Bay. Built by the British in 1939, the lighthouse was a replacement for the original wooden one — Sri Lanka’s first lighthouse, erected in 1848 — that had been destroyed in a fire in the mid-1930s. Point Utrecht, one of the major bastions of the Galle Fort, also houses a gunpowder magazine below the lighthouse. Shot in January 2022.

^{*shot on a Canon EOS 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Light #2

Paper Vesak lanterns in a locked down suburb of Colombo. May 2021.

An Irish Rebellion

Freedom from the tyranny of religion, post-Eid and pre-Poya. Colombo, August 2019. Major religious holidays are typically dry days in Sri Lanka.

The Other Kandy

Kandy, Sri Lanka. October 2018.