“Our country – our people”, a recent photography exhibition saw young photographers from around the country coming together to highlight different lives of people
The funeral rites performed by Hindus at the cemetery, the smiling faces of children dancing around their teacher, the hard work of a labourer. These were some of the images captured by young photographers and exhibited at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre in Colombo recently. The exhibition, “Our country – our people”, organised by the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation as part of its “Voice of Image” photography programme looked to highlight the lifestyles of people from all over Sri Lanka.
Director of programmes at the Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation Dishani Jayaweera says she started this project to see if photography could be used to convey the stories of people across Sri Lanka. Having worked in the field of reconciliation from 1997, Dishani says she realised that when she tried to convey people’s stories, it didn’t have the same effect. She found photographer Jayanth Dharmawardena, who designed the project for the centre.
The project started with 40 students from Tirukovil, Kattankudy, Anuradhapura and Hatton in 2012, and a new intake was taken in 2015 from areas such as Jaffna and Polonnaruwa. Each group has 8-15 students who shared one or two cameras among them, using the camera to a schedule. Each group had 3-4 photography workshops lasting three days each through which they learnt how to take pictures, how others viewed their photography and the different techniques - it is the ideal way to learn about unity and diversity, she feels. “We all have one camera and we can all see this stone, but ten of us have taken it in ten ways, and 15 people have said 15 things about that and no one is saying what I thought. Through that you’re learning that people will interpret things in different ways, and that’s diversity. Before you see differences within other communities, they learn that this is happening within your own community,” she explains.
Krishan Sanira, 28, who works as a wall artist in Polonnaruwa hadn’t touched a camera before the programme. “Jayanth (Jayanth sir always told us to go inside the picture and live inside the frame),” he says. His favourite picture is one of a young priest holding a toy car and pushing it up and down a blank wall, because it shows the rules which these young monks have to deal with. “
(we can peek at their lives),” he says.
For 19-year-old Dilka Shehani, also from Polonnaruwa and has just finished her A’ Levels, the camera helps her convey a message. Dilka says that during her free time, she likes to be alone with her camera. “Then I can see things which no one sees and no one looks for and can take many pictures which will help society. It’s a great opportunity for me to show people what I have seen,” she says, adding that she hopes to improve and become an even better photographer.
“I learnt about humanity - happiness, sadness, lifestyle and the environment people live in,” says Agalya Selvaraj, a 22-year-old from Hatton adding that she hopes to reveal the untold stories of people to the country. “Many people don’t know how others live. I want to