‘Who I Am’ website goes places with faces
View(s):When Kannan Arunasalam began the I Am project it was as an exploration of his own identity and his Jaffna roots. It came, says Kannan with a realisation that his identity, like that of many other Sri Lankans, was multi-faceted and complex and that this needed to be celebrated. The project then grew from there, covering elders from Kandy, Jaffna and Galle in the first series and then expanding in the second to include many from Batticaloa, Colombo and Negombo.
In total 45 elders have been featured on the site, but Kannan has met and photographed many more. “At the end of the project, there will be 72 elders on the site, but there are many more on the Facebook page and I hope ones that the followers will submit for the competition.”
The competition he is speaking of is his attempt to engage the I Am followers on Facebook and Twitter. Kannan is asking for submissions – portraits of inspirational elders accompanied by their story told in less than 50 words. The winner will receive a prize from Nikon courtesy Photo Technica worth Rs. 20,000 and will be featured on the iam.lk site. ‘It could be your grandfather, the man on the street or a Sri Lankabhimanya!’ writes Kannan.
He’s excited to see what the competition will produce. “I really want I Am’s followers to contribute, to get inspired by the project and to go out and capture the stories of elders around them. These narratives are disappearing and I want Sri Lankans, especially the younger generation, to value their importance.”
More details are available on http://iam.lk/contribute.
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