Colombo, SRI LANKA — On October 4 this year, a 39-year-old woman from the Brandix garment factory in Minuwangoda tested positive for COVID-19. By October 13, Brandix, which makes garments for global brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Gap and Marks & Spencer, was at the heart of an expanding cluster of over 1,500 cases. Garment workers were … Continue reading
WHEN WE MEET MAALI ALMEIDA—an intrepid photojournalist and the protagonist of Shehan Karunatilaka’s Chats with the Dead, published earlier this year—he is recently dead. The novel is set in 1989, a time Karunatilaka chose because it was what he calls a “perfect storm of terrors.” The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Sri Lankan army, Indian … Continue reading
The grass is alive. It’s after dark in Sigiriya and a full moon swims through a sea of stars above us. On my head I wear a headlamp masked by red tape (to protect the sensitive eyes of animals we encounter) and a pair of outsized wellington boots (to protect me from any irate reptiles … Continue reading
Today, I found a bunch of old Yuti magazines at the bottom of a box. I’m proud of the work we did on them – generating trilingual educational content for children was fun and challenging. We worked with some incredible artists, photographers and writers, and you’ll see that the results were unlike any other magazine … Continue reading
I watch my husband and try to absorb something of his calm. It feels like S has embraced this quieter life in a way that I still struggle to. His days are filled with little projects. He is growing things on our small balcony: spinach, chillies, curry leaves, coriander and spring onions. (The mustard seeds … Continue reading
I brace myself against the side of the minivan as we rattle down the remote red dirt track leading to The Mudhouse. The wheels scrabble for grip and the driver slows to a crawl. Buffalo – with a dozen egrets along for the ride on their backs – have created a traffic jam, while a land … Continue reading
Archive of Memory, launched this month, is made up of voices from across seven decades of independence. In the introduction to the book – edited and curated by Malathi de Alwis and Hasini Haputhanthri, with the accompanying photographs by Sharni Jayawardena – the editors note that the publication is as representative of the diversity of … Continue reading
On Friday last week, just as the architect Channa Daswatte sat down for an interview with the Sunday Times, a ceiling was sliding into place at the Bentota Beach Hotel. Ena de Silva’s stunning batik design had been a key element in the building Geoffrey Bawa worked on between 1967 and 1969, and its restoration … Continue reading
Situated on the shores of the Indian Ocean, Colombo is known for its labyrinthine old city markets, grand colonial-era hotels, stunning shipwrecks and wetlands that are home to elusive fishing cats. But not so much for its contemporary art. All that is set to change, however, thanks to the recent launch of the Sri Lankan commercial capital’s Museum … Continue reading
In her introduction to Perspectives (which I wrote for the United Nations Population Fund to mark 50 years of their work in Sri Lanka) Ritsu Nacken the County Representative for UNFPA Sri Lanka explains what the publication sets out to do: “This year, 2019, marks two important milestones in the field of reproductive health globally: 50 years … Continue reading
