Relaunch of “The Island from Above” and exhibition
“The Island from Above” made its first appearance back in 2014 to mark the silver jubilee of Access International as a limited edition volume of photography. On November 27, the book of photography which explores Sri Lanka from an aerial view was re-released by collaborators Dominic Sansoni, Sebastian Posingis and Richard Simon, this time for the public. “The Island from Above” was a long awaited dream for the collaborators, one which remained out of their reach till the end of the civil war. The pictures are captured by hand held cameras taken from helicopters in flight covering Sri Lanka’s tropical landscape. Monday’s book launch was accompanied by an exhibition of black and white photographs from the book printed on a canvas and available for purchase.
Of the photographs, some were taken sporadically by Dominic over the years when domestic aviation was restricted during the war. But the majority of the shots were taken by him and longtime collaborator Sebastian over the course of a few weeks in April 2013. Joining them on their shoots aboard the helicopter provided by the Sri Lanka Air Force was Richard Simon. With a career as a writer of Sri Lanka’s nature, culture and history behind him, Richard Simon’s text is an observant accompaniment to the pictures across the book.
“The Island from Above” is available at Barefoot, priced at Rs. 7, 500.