Moving Images is a series of stunning short-form documentary and narrated photographic portraits on facets of life in post-war Sri Lanka. The latest addition looks at the iconic Castle Hotel in Slave Island, Colombo. Click here to access the video. For a trailer to the series this video is part of, click here.
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Original photo courtesy Mind Adventures Rondo is a devised theatre play, based on the theme of reconciliation, says the programme note for the production of RONDO by Tracy Holsinger and the Mind Adventures Theatre Company. The structure of the play is episodic, with an unraveling of a series of seemingly unrelated incidents taking place between blackouts. A ‘Watcher’ watches over it all, standing on a small lighthouse like structure at the back of the stage, occasionally scanning the horizon with a spyglass and flashing a torch at the face on the ‘Visitor’, the only contemporary figure in the piece. As the Watcher rambles on in verse, at times comic and at other times obtusely philosophical, one hoped, the audience has a brief moment to ponder on what they have just seen and what it means in relation to the rest of what has been already performed. Rondo is a play that demands your complete attention. A brief moment to nod…
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Photo credits: 888 Sport Zone and Daily Info Picks I know absolutely nothing about cricket and honestly would not have paid attention to the Cricket World Cup, had I not been in Sri Lanka the week its team made it to the final. Although the Sri Lankan team lost in the end, it was an electrifying moment to live, even as a foreigner. World Cup fever is universal, whatever the game, whatever the continent. The tension was so palpable, emotion and excitement at its highest on Galle Face Green where I went to watch the game amid a crowd of 8000 cricket fans. People seemed proud to be Sri Lankan, waving the flag, faces painted and broad smiles. An entire country behind its team. This was particularly interesting, as Sri Lanka will be soon celebrating two years since the end of the war and mostly reconciliation between the different ethnicities remains a theory. Being Sri Lankan still largely means belonging…
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Life span of one hour, four people performed excellently at a renovated warehouse down Park Street Mews. I was rooted to my seat and watched and listened in careful concentration to capture every syllable of the dialog. The play is low cost and high quality and gave a poignantly strange message of displaced people that we are gradually and conveniently beginning to forget. It is not only the man, woman and child who got corralled in Menik Camp that lost their ‘home.’ There is a whole lot more who are harnessed and weighed down and up rooted by the racial yoke. These then too are people of the soil, who are now geographically scattered and emotionally disorientated and carry totally or partially valid reasons to feel that they belong to an unequal second race. The count among them is considerable, each looking in his or her moral compass to find a route that could guide him or her to a…
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Moving Images is a series of stunning short-form documentary and narrated photographic portraits on facets of life in post-war Sri Lanka. These high-definition productions, the country’s first, range from portraits of resilience from the war ravaged Jaffna and reflections on the Eurasian community by the last surviving Eurasians themselves to fascinating lives in Colombo invisible even to most who live and work in the city. Produced for and supported by Groundviews, this unique content is will be progressively uploaded to the Moving Images website over April and May. Trailers for the productions follow along with the flyer announcing the launch of the content.
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Citizenship, as I know it, is a means by which citizens of a particular country are recognized as entities of that country. I feel that citizenship gives each of us a sense of “belonging” and “responsibility” towards our motherland, and also a sense of “security,” that as holders of this particular citizenship, we’re ensured of our protection and wellbeing. At least, that’s what one would hope a citizen of a country is entitled to. I guess we were called a “Land like no other” for a reason. That being, that we truly are like no other. The concept of “citizenship” as I mentioned above, is nothing but an illusion in our fair land. As citizens of one country, we hold no sense of camaraderie with one another. We’re told that a “good citizen of the State” obeys the State. That they should not question the State. That they should accept that the State only acts with their wellbeing at heart,…
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Image courtesy Business Live There was a truly remarkable moment at the start of the World Cup Final between India and Sri Lanka. Amidst a deafening cacophony of noise Match Referee Jeff Crowe, TV Compere Ravi Shastri and the two captains assembled at the centre of the ground to make the toss, or kaasi vaasi (the advantage or leanings of the toss) as they call it so appropriately in Sinhala. Dhoni tossed the coin and Sangakkara called “Heads” (in a rather indistinct fashion it is said). But as the Referee picked up the coin it transpired that neither he, Shastri or Dhoni had heard the call because of the background cacophony. Worse still, it appears that Dhoni misheard the call as “tails” and Michael Vaughan in the commentary position heard it the same way and therefore contends that Sangakkara indulged in some skullduggery by allowing Dhoni to spin the coin again. So, the procedure was repeated. Sangakkara called – or…
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“Men ~ their rights, and nothing more; WOMEN~ their rights, and nothing less.” ~ Susan Brownell Anthony (15th February 1820 ~ 13th March 1906, American Women’s Rights Activist, Civil Rights leader and suffragist) Journalism is still a heavily male dominated field in Sri Lanka. Women are slowly but steadily getting into the field of journalism. On the other hand, we are mostly assigned to cover “soft” issues such as to handle the women’s page of a newspaper or cover culture or sub edit stories. We are hardly and rarely assigned to cover conflict or sports, because male journalists and editors think that these are “hard” issues women are unable to cover. Women are equally dedicated, determined, educated, focused and of course talented. We have proven our talents over the years, while standing side by side and shoulder to shoulder on the field with men to cover from disaster to design. 34 women photographers participated in the Women’s Photography Exhibition 2011….
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This was a big match. Akin to a curfew, Colombo’s streets were deserted on Saturday afternoon, but Galle Face was not. Over 7,000 people had congregated there to watch the cricket world cup final between Sri Lanka and India on a big screen erected on the grounds. Nearly all the electronics showrooms with TV’s on display had tuned in to the cricket as well, resulting in small crowds who had settled in front to watch the match sometimes with deck chairs and stools. Traffic was chaotic in the morning in Colombo and its suburbs, with people thronging to stores to buy both genuine and imitations of Sri Lankan cricket sporting garb and other memorabilia. As we noted on Twitter, “Never seen so many Sri Lankan flags on vehicles after the end of war.” Nationalism and over the top displays of patriotism were on a crescendo, leading up to and on Saturday. There was Sarath Fonseka who said that a victory…
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Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"
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