Preserving the Safe House of Memory: Photographic Chronicles of War and After in Sri Lanka
This section is about how photographic chronicles of war preserve memory. Though the discrimination of so-called minority ethnic groups in Sri Lanka has a much longer history, the “official” beginning of physically violent disputes between government forces and the newly established LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) began around 1973 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The turning point of the ethnic conflict, which evolved into a fully-fledged civil war that lasted nearly four decades, was the creation of the LTTE by Velupillai Prabhakaran in that fateful year. The LTTE was initially and primarily a guerrilla group, though it did later morph into a conventional army that held and administered a fixed territory, including at its peak just over 16,000 members waging war against a 400,000 robust state military machine.
Hence, as a photographer, I have used old, abandoned and restored houses in Jaffna as evidence to show the effects of war on people and their homes during the decades of violence in Sri Lanka. One can still find intertwined evidence of both Sri Lanka’s colonial past and the civil war in the country, which I have attempted to foreground. Sadly, this evidence lacks onsite witnesses, making the photographer's role more urgent and poignant because the owners of these now abandoned and decayed houses left during the war.
The focus is on houses on the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka. Houses that no one uses and houses I never knew, houses once walked in, houses built with love. Jaffna has many houses just like these, and they have more memories than one can imagine. They have got history enmeshed in a story, narratives of love and trauma embodying the history of our peninsula. Jaffna
I will also include landscapes and animals to help bring all of this together for you to understand better what I am trying to say.
Here’s a peak into the kachcheri in Jaffna town. I will say it again, by far my favourite shoot done while I was visiting. I would go back again just for this. If you get a chance to go, look at it and dream and imagine what it used to be like. I’m sure it would have been busy busy all day long.
This building was the Revenue Collector's Office in the early years of the British Colonial Administration in Ceylon.
Old Kachcheri
Re-constructed Library Jaffna
This Library was bombed in the 1980s by a Sinhalese mob that was led by two ministers who will remain nameless. Tamil manuscripts, books from India and a number of unique books that had been written about Ceylon(now Sri Lanka) were housed here and went down in ashes and dust. The library, thankfully, was reconstructed, but the memories that the people of Jaffna around this building at the time are now only in spirit and will always be so.
This Villa was someone’s home and was war-damaged. It has been taken over by nature and there is a tree that grows inside one of the rooms of the house. This house has a lot of colonial influence. Even though the war had a huge effect on this house and many others in Jaffna and Kayts, the structure is still intact which is an unexpected bonus.
St. Anthony’s Villa, Kayts Island
Cows are sacred and an important animal in the Hindu culture that is practised in Jaffna Peninsula. For Hindus, the cow is considered Holy, and due to this, Hindus do not consume beef in their meals.
The cow is also decorated for some festivals. At many Hindu temples, statues are made of cows and bulls and painted in many different colours.
Manthri Manai, Jaffna Town
This building is called Manthri Manai and is an archaeological protected monument. It was listed by the Sri Lankan government in 2007.
This house belonged to King Sangiliyan, who was also a minister, many centuries ago. This is a part of the Jaffna Kingdom ruins.
It is situated in Nallur, Jaffna and is open to visitors. It functioned as a palace many years ago. This site showcases Jaffna's many influences on architecture over the years. King’s ministers also used to live here.
This building is a colonial structure with many features of a traditional Jaffna house. Its shape is delicate, but it has been restored many times to keep it standing for future generations. It is one of the largest buildings to have survived in the city of Jaffna town, considering the civil war caused a lot of damage when it first started.
Tourists can walk in as well as fellow Sri Lankans and there is no entry fee.