Paradox of paradise

By Ruhanie Perera

That's Paul Harris's introduction to Fractured Paradise, his book on Sri Lanka which was launched here, early this month. 

Says Harris, "I first arrived in Sri Lanka on an assignment on Jan 28, 1996. I remember the date clearly because it was just three days prior to the Central Bank bomb blast. That day I was in my car, on my way into the city, just a few hundred yards away from the Central Bank. All I had with me at the time was a small camera with just one roll of film. Eventually I made my way back to the hotel for my equipment and shot 20 rolls of film that day." 

That was the beginning of what was to become, five years later, a collection of 'Images of Sri Lanka' . 

Since then he's visited Sri Lanka thrice a year, this being his 18th visit, writing situation reports primarily for Jane's Intelligence Review, a defence journal to which he is a contributor, as well as for a number of newspapers, journals and magazines. However it was only in December last year that Harris finally decided on a book on Sri Lanka. Until then he felt that the material he had wasn't enough for a book. 

Of the 25,000 pictures he had taken of Sri Lanka, he picked 86 that he felt would be the most effective. "I chose the pictures which appealed to me the most while at the same time giving a geographical spread, covering Colombo, Kandy, Batticaloa and Trincomalee."

I'm fascinated by the island and yet I'm upset by what I see, he says, echoing his initial thought that this truly is an island of paradoxes. Even the title, Fractured Paradise, springs from that same thought suggesting that the island, although once a paradise, at present has many a rift. His use of the word 'fractured' however, rather optimistically points out that all is not lost; there is room for healing. 

"Not all the pictures in my book are of war," he says. True enough, for there are many pictures that capture the beauty of the island for, according to Harris, "Sri Lanka truly is a paradise". His technique throughout the book is to juxtapose pictures of beauty with those of horror in a way thatwould stimulate the reader into "thinking". "That was my intention," he says, "I didn't want this to be just another coffee table book; that wouldn't really say anything." 

The most effective images, in his eyes, are those depicting two girls. One a child waiting expectantly for the arrival of the Prince of Wales; the other a young woman who had been tortured. Their eyes tell the story of Sri Lanka, says Harris, the first glowing with anticipation as against the pain and horror of the other. "I've seen that look in the eyes of women all over the world. The look in the eyes never changes, be it in Bosnia, Uganda or Sri Lanka." 

The commentary which runs alongside the photographs in some chapters is essentially a personal account, for he felt more comfortable presenting the war as a series of images. "As an outsider I'm wary of writing about the conflict because one could be construed as taking sides; for in a conflict situation if you are not completely with a side, then you are against it."

Conflict analyst, freelance journalist, photojournalist and writer, Harris says, "I don't have much difficulty forming opinions. But my opinions are formed only through personal experience." A non-believer in the academic style of writing, sitting at a desk, miles away from all the action, Harris only writes of places he's visited recently swearing by what he calls the 'smell on the streets'. " It's a sort of intuition one develops only by actually being at the place from where you are reporting," he says confidently. 

A war correspondent for 10 years now, he says his career began in 1991 when, after visiting Yugoslavia on business, he was about to leave the country when the airport was attacked. "The plane I was about to board was destroyed. I took some photographs which I sold to Reuters." At that point Harris didn't get on another flight out of Yugoslavia. Instead, abandoning his career as an export consultant, he stayed on in the region reporting on the conflict situation in the Balkans.

Author of the best selling Cry Bosnia, Harris wrote his first book at the age of 17. His books are miscellaneous in subject matter, pictorial accounts of wars, (military defence being his speciality) alongside the only book written in English (so far) on Bangladeshi cuisine.

And, since becoming a photojournalist, how has his life changed? "Well, at a very superficial level, I tend to look at anything through the lens of a camera. At a deeper level, I think I've stopped being shocked by what I see. Some assignments are particularly hard and they do affect me, but overall I always try to identify the best way to communicate effectively what I see."

With those words he turns the pages of his book to show me yet another illustration, on one page- two young boys grinning, thrilled to be photographed and on the opposite page one of a young soldier. The commentary reads thus: "As you look at schoolboys playing cricket in their neatly pressed whites, you cannot help but wonder at what point the crack of leather on willow will be replaced in their lives by the crackle of machine- gun fire." 

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