“Memory is not exactly memory. It is more like a prong, upon which a calendar of similar experiences happening throughout the years, collect.” –Stephen Spender. There is a deep yearning and a hunger in me to delve into the past and trace my ancestors. In many ways, we are who we are, because they were who they were. I look ...

Unlike many of the other tsunami anniversaries my heart is lighter this year.  We have moved past a threshold of pain.  Maybe be we are propelled by a natural release of energy that they say happens every seven years
 which encourages you to move forward and make changes. Seven years after the tsunami of December 2004, the Kirtisinghe family seems ...

by Faseeh Shams For the hijras in Pakistan, dance and song is the only way to earn a respectable living, as their presence is considered auspicious on wedding and childbirth celebrations. However they are not treated as equals unanimously by the conservative and liberal sections of Pakistani society. They live in secluded communities with their own kind, often in extreme ...

Misty watercolor memories Of the way we were Scattered pictures Of the smiles we left behind Smiles we gave to one another For the way we were Memories May be beautiful and yet What’s too painful to remember We simply choose to forget So it is the laughter We will remember Whenever we remember The way we were So it ...

Oil lamps at Devundara Sri Vishnu Maha Devalaya. Photograph©Chulie de Silva I am always drawn to the flickering temple lamps.  Often lit in prayer, in remembrance, the fragrant oil spills over as much as love does long after the loved ones are gone.

In medieval Ceylon when a man takes a bride and walks with her to his village, its customary for the woman to walk in front and the man behind her, said Robert Knox, who chronicled the life and times during his capture here. The reason for this tradition, he says is that once a man walked ahead of his bride ...

William Radice with Bengali original read with musical accompaniment by Sydur Rahman Lipon, Shormymala and Delwar Hossain Dilu. Photograph©British Council/Tanzim Ahmed Bijoy, 23 February, 2012. I had not heard before of the brutal slaying of Meghnad in Lanka, nor of Michael Madhusudan Dutta.  A political killing of an unarmed man, scheming, treachery, all the ingredients that we are familiar with unfolded ...

Reflections and Refractions by the river at  Katudampe temple, Ratgama, Sri Lanka 8 Feb 2014. Photograph© Chulie de Silva Know all things to be like this: a mirage, a cloud castle, a dream, an apparition, Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen. Know all things to be like this: As the moon in a bright  sky In some ...

Chulie de Silva:The power of black & white Originally posted on Art Blart: Exhibition dates: 2nd May – 2nd November 2014 Curator: National Portrait Gallery Senior Curator of Photographs Ann Shumard Decisive exposure Whether there was, or he understood there to be, a “decisive” moment when Eugène Atget took a photograph is unknown… but I think that what he was trying to achieve ...

AnthropoGraphia Award 5th Edition Human Rights through visual storytelling. AnthropoGraphia has announced a call for entries for the 2013 Human Rights through Visual Storytelling Award. Call for entries ends: 7 May 2013. Human Rights Through Visual Storytelling   AnthropoGraphia will grant a 3,000$ award to one outstanding Visual Storytelling essay. This is an excellent opportunity for visual storytellers to exhibit ...

Ancient monasteries, potent legends, the mystique of incense laden Buddhist temples is a heady combination and a good playground for amateur photographers. Sasseruwa also known as Res Vihara is such a Buddhist monastery, so named as the area was flooded with rays of light (Res) when the Bodhi tree was first planted. The tree was one of the first 32 saplings ...

A bull tethered outside my apartment block awaits sacrificial slaughter at Eid. Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 6 Nov. 2011 Copyright Chulie de Silva “Oh! Look see how cute that goat is” said my friend as we bounced over dodgy roads in a rickshaw.  Yes, the goat was unusual black with speckled ears.   He and another goat were being led ...

I have always waited with bated breath for the holidays to begin at Hikkaduwa, to be embraced by the warmth of that house, Siriniwasa, hear in the winds that came through the grove of coconut trees whisper of the joys of many who have been here before us. Siriniwasa, Hikkaduwa. Photgraph©Chulie de Silva For me, Siriniwasa was not just a ...

Dancing girls Kilinochchi, 21 July 2010. Photograph©Chulie de Silva Going up North for work was so interesting in 2010. North was reviving and there was this wonderful joyous exuberance – especialy among the young. The only setback for me was that I often had to put my camera through the window and plead with the drivers to slow down ...

I was fascinated by this stunning 14th century gilt bronze statue of  Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) and Vishvamata (World Mother) at the New Asian Gallery of the Art Gallery in Sydney.  From the little I have read and gathered in Tibetan Buddhism – Kalachakra’s partner (his Wisdom) is Vishvamata. The “time” part of the deity’s name, regarded as relative, refers to ...

Benny’s Surf Point, Hikkaduwa. Photograph© Chulie de Silva Lounging on a “hansi putuwa” (planter’s chair) on the back verandah, watching a pair of blue kingfishers streak in and out among the coconut trees, sipping my morning tea, I am amazed at how relaxed I am. Gone with the wind are cravings to check mail or FB. There are  no deadlines ...

My first memorable introductions to the world of the American Indians came via an adapted children’s storybook “Hiawatha”, based on the poem “Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  No matter there is controversy about the poem but the evocative verses brought to life a wondrous world of the noble American Indians where I could roam with my imagination. I ...

A Buddhist temple nestling among coconut trees as seen from Lady Hill Hotel, Galle. Photograph©Chulie de Silva Watch your thoughts: they become words Watch your words: they become actions Watch your actions: they become habits Watch your habits: they become your character Watch your character: for it becomes your destiny. I first saw these lines when I worked in Brunei ...

The tsunami affected about one million people and devastated over two thirds of Sri Lanka’s coastline. The tragedy claimed more than 35,000 human lives, injured nearly 21,500 people and left 1500 children orphaned. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva The tsunami day is the longest day and the hardest night of my life and somewhere in the last ten years I ...

My mother Manel Chitrawathy Kirtisinghe in her mid-twenties. Rephotographed from an original . Photograph© Chulie de Silva Born on 22 August 1922, my mother Manel Chitrawathy was the eldest daughter of Romiel Anthony Fernando, a dashing handsome man and Eva Engelthina Dissanayake, a quiet daughter of the Dissanayake Walauwa, Panadura,   She as the lotus she was named after was ...