I overheard a conversation between lovers the other day. But I am broken, one said. . That’s ok, the other replied: so am I. Sometimes broken pieces fit together better than things that are whole. I shouldn’t have been spying, but how could I help myself? I am seated next to them but they don’t see me. I am ...
A Visual Exploration of Mannar Island Originally published in The Fowler’s March 2019 edition: Mother North. View the full article here: https://thefowler.net/mannar-isms/
If you’re travelling to Sri Lanka, here’s some advice you might encounter: avoid Colombo. Just another South Asian city, lacking an identity and making up for it with concrete and glass and pretty pavements. Can’t hold a candle to winding hillsides and coconut-lined beaches found elsewhere on the island. Not a monument as grand as the temples of Polonnaruwa or ...
A tribute to Sri Lanka’s arid landscapes In the summer of ’79, my very pregnant mother was hoisted on to the back of an Enfield and taken on a road trip to Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. My father was born with a lust for the road which he had wanted to pass on to his firstborn, even in utero. And ...
EXPLORING THE INTIMACY OF HEAVY METAL “Metal is intimacy” he said. I had been trying for so long to find the words to express what heavy metal meant to me, and here he was, saying it so effortlessly. Intimacy. Yes! He was so damn right. The problem is, we tend to confuse what that means. Sometimes we think its ...
A PRIDE 2019 story for the Bendr blog, discussing how heavy metal borrows its identity from gay culture https://bendr.home.blog/2019/06/10/heavy-metal-homos/
A memorial piece on the late, great Prasanna Abeysekera. Pioneer of Rock & Roll in Sri Lanka and my dear friend. http://decibel.lk/member-001-the-adventures-of-captain-zero/
As part of their Cross Border Dialogues with women activists, journalists and theorists from South Asia, Indian Women Blog conducted a live Twitter interview with me during Women’s History Month (March 2019). The live interview was also published in two separate articles: https://www.indianwomenblog.org/sri-lankan-artist-natalie-soysa-is-striving-to-bend-gender-norms-through-her-edgy-projects/ and https://www.indianwomenblog.org/natalie-soysa-on-being-a-queer-woman-and-a-journalist-in-post-war-sri-lan
The Ph Publishing House is now accepting submissions for an up-coming anthology that addresses the nature of fundamentalism. Aimed at a readership of children, aged 12 and above, the anthology hopes to examine extremist values existing within our present national psyche featuring stories in written and visual forms. Submissions will be accepted from Sri Lankan writers, authors, cartoonists and ...
It’s been ages since I wrote about Sri Lanka’s rich underground music scene. But I’m back! Here’s my first piece (among many more to come) for Decibel LK. Straight Outta K-Town is a feature on Unscripted, a new band with experienced players, giving Hip Hop an all new spin. Have a read, won’t you? http://decibel.lk/decibel-exclusive-straight-outta-k-town/
I spent several weeks in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka from April to June 2017 capturing the stories, lives and context of life after war for the women of the region. Here’s what I saw through my lens: This collection of photography is part of an extended project including a documentary film and photography exhibition funded by the International ...
My father was a difficult man to love. But ask anyone who knew him and they’ll tell you he was an equally difficult man to hate. It just wasn’t possible to be angry with him for too long. There was bloody good reason for this. They say to forgive is divine, but from my father I learned that asking for ...
Colombo, 1999 I can still remember the smoky exteriors of the 80 Club down Independence Avenue that night. I was revisiting a place where my late grandfather was once an office bearer. This mean I was forced into the club’s Christmas parties; an annual episode that would eventually end up with me throwing a shit-fit. A large breaded who ...
Originally published in the Women & Media Collective periodical OPTIONS, in October 2015. The photo essay discusses single motherhood – a cause that hits too close to home. I share my story so that other single mums know they are not alone. And I demand that both state and society acknowledge us and our children. The issue was curated by Dr. Shermal Wijewardena. ——————————— In 2010, Social ...
Originally published in LT Magazine, People feature, September 2015 A crazy diamond. A shooting star. A rider on the storm. Suresh de Silva can be called many things, but the one thing that truly stands out is his boundless talent. He spent the last 15 years as an ad-man, writer and caregiver to the many stray canines who now form ...
