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gaze of life Although coloured images have been around for the same period in the technological evolution of photography- it is the images in black and white that are best remembered and it is in these tones that most famous photographers excel. The hallmark among artists and intellectuals of the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe was stimulation for new experiences and a taste for discovery of all kinds- and photographers were no exception. The need for exploring exotic landscapes, people and places, especially the Orient, was the primary driving force that opened up new possibilities. India with its multitude of races, religions and rituals in all its diversity has always been high on the itinerary of the best of photographers. India’s connection with the early history of photography is as old as the medium itself. As early as 1839, a few months after the announcement of the invention of daguerreotype to the scientific institutions and public in Paris – the basic technique to simulate similar images was experimented with in Calcutta at the Asiatic Society. By the 1840s, photographers from Europe, weighted down with their clumsy equipment were travelling to India to discover the country and record its images. Over the following decades the French and Indian link of photographic activity was fully established. Eminent French daguerreotypists and photographers of the calibre of Alfonso Eugene Jules Itier (1802-1877) and Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004) travelled and created images stimulated by discovering Sri Lanka and India. Thierry Arensma, also a French photographer operating from his studio in Paris continues this long tradition. Since 1985, when he took up professional photography, he has had several exhibitions in Europe and Asia. Arensma is no stranger to Sri Lanka and India. The images that captivated him in both these countries have been exhibited in Sri Lanka, India and France. In
1998, he had an earlier exhibition at Barefoot Gallery, Colombo
on a similar theme of capturing images and portraits of the labouring
classes both in Sri Lanka and India. He also exhibited this collection
in France (Galerie Peiture, Paris) and participated in a travelling
exhibition across ten cities in India. Thierry Arensma has developed a unique style which not only records portraits of peasants and the labouring class but also highlights the concerns of these people. These images are set against a backdrop of communities torn by civil strife, natural disasters and poverty. His images have appeared in numerous publications in France, India and Sri Lanka, including Portraits of Africans in Senegal ( text by F. Bussac –Edition Spa 2001) and in Portraits from the South of India in the magazine Asia Spa (2004). -Ismeth Raheem Building
a true paradise isle through humanity Paul Caspersz went to school in Colombo, entered the Society of Jesus in 1942, and was ordained a priest ten years later. He read Politics and Economics at Oxford and, returning to the island, was a teacher till 1971. A year later, he co-founded the Satyodaya Centre for Social Research and Encounter, Kandy, where he is now based. New Culture, marking Paul Caspersz becoming an octogenarian, is a remarkable book, testifying to a remarkable man, and a remarkable life of quiet, sustained, service to the poor and the disadvantaged. The anthology is animated by the spirit of Decree 1V of the 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus: “the reconciliation of men and women among themselves, which their reconciliation with God demands, must be based on justice.” Caspersz
has a special sympathy for the Upcountry (or Plantation) Tamils
because they are among the most wretched of “the wretched
of the earth” (Frantz Fanon), suffering both the vertical
and horizontal lines of ethnicity and class. Brought over from India
in the 19th Century by imperial Britain, they were virtual prisoners
on the estates: “not only was the estate isolated from the
village but, through a series of vicious and restrictive laws, regulations
and customs, each estate was carefully sealed off from every other”
(p. 32). Callously exploited by estate management (motivated by profit and heedless of the human cost); resented by the Sinhalese; cynically betrayed by their own trade union leaders, theirs has been a most unfortunate fate. New Culture traces the sorry story, independence (1948) bringing the deprivation of citizenship, disenfranchisement and, in the case of thousands, expatriation (not repatriation) to India. Caspersz argues that, given the long passage of time, these folk should no longer be seen as “Indian Tamil”. The “ethnic origins of the overwhelming majority of the people now living in the island are Indian, and it is highly probable that the origins of the great majority are South Indian” (p. 1). Unafraid, wishing to provoke thought, Caspersz argues that if the plantation folk are “Indian Tamil,” then the Sinhalese are “Indian Sinhalese” (p. 18). He acknowledges that he had welcomed the Land Reform law of 1972, not anticipating that nationalisation would lead to Tamil plantation workers being ordered out of the estates, often without notice, “hungry, homeless and helpless” (p. viii). Ethnicity is “the dominant problem in Sri Lanka” (p. 78), and Caspersz pleads for a united nation that permits and encourages diversity (p. 74). Unity does not mean uniformity; integration is not assimilation; pluralism should be welcomed and celebrated. The ethnic conflict is totally unnecessary, and a tragic waste. After all, Sinhalese caste groups such as the karavas, the salagamas and the duravas were “originally South Indian immigrants who over a period of centuries assimilated so successfully with the local population as to make everyone, even themselves, oblivious of their origins” (p 80). The irony is that “the vast majority of the Tamils would not want separation if there was genuine redress of their grievances” (p. 83). To support this argument, Caspersz quotes from the 1970 election manifesto of the Federal Party: “It is our firm conviction that division of the country in any form would be beneficial neither to the country nor to the Tamil-speaking people. Hence we appeal to the Tamil-speaking people not to lend their support to any political movement that advocates the bifurcation of our country” (p. 83). The Sinhalese who exclude the option of secession are, for that very reason, all the more obliged to work for genuine pluralistic acceptance and equality (p. 86). The nature and shape of politics is formed by people and parties: “Whenever one of the two main Sinhala parties tries to redress the legitimate grievances of the Tamils, the other accuses it of betrayal or surrender. The tragedy is that there is no question of principle but of sheer dishonest political gain” (p. 28).As I have written elsewhere, unfortunately religious teaching does not determine the nature of society; rather, it’s the people who determine the nature of religion. The same religion – whether Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism or Islam – at different times and places finds different expression: compassionate or cruel, gentle or harsh, tolerant or assertive. Christianity, born in the Middle East, was adopted by the West, and later exported to the non-Western world. It accompanied Western imperialism - and the exploitation and humiliation that imperialism visited upon the conquered. Secondly, it came dressed in the “clothes” of Western culture and, rather than adapting Christianity to Sri Lankan culture, converts adapted Western ways. It is not surprising that many Sri Lankan Buddhists look upon Christianity with resentment. (Recently, the situation has been worsened by the methods and motives of certain USA-based evangelical groups.) Caspersz does not deny the complicit role the church played in the past. For instance, the church stressed law and order, but did not question the moral rightness of that externally imposed “order”. A good Christian was held to be one who went to church, was concerned with the sacrament and the holy spirit – not with “inter-human justice” (p. 142). But since we are social beings, to be a good Christian is not only to do “social service” but also to be active in endeavouring to bring about social change. Rather than being kind within an unkind system, one must work towards changing the unjust order of things. What is desired, and longed for, is not charity but justice. As for the role of Christians in the ethnic conflict, those described as “nationalists” are not inclusive but “racist” nationalists. However, while almost all Buddhists are Sinhalese, and all Hindus are Tamil, the Christian congregation consists of Sinhalese and Tamil. Therefore, Christians have a better opportunity, and a greater duty, to work for inter-ethnic understanding and harmony. “Development” is a frequently encountered word, and countries like Sri Lanka are sometimes (hopefully) described as “developing” nations. But what does development mean in practice? “Often and deliberately, the World Bank-IMF complex hides its real intentions behind difficult phrases” (p. 256). When international organisations think, plan and carry out “development” projects, the poor are peripheral (p. 241); the centre is occupied by “economic growth which means the making of more and more money” (pp. 241-2). It is assumed that the more material possessions and comforts a person or a nation has, “the more fulfilment is there of the capacity of that person or nation to be” (p. 279). A distinction must be made between needs and wants. Development, while having to do with the economy, the material, must also have the spiritual dimension of devotion to humanity, to truth, goodness, beauty, equity and justice (p. 247). In that sense, one can be spiritual without being religious. Caspersz concludes that the opposite of religion is not atheism but idolatry, the idolatry of material possession, status, snobbery, false values and power As Caspersz observes, some books do not pulsate, do not bleed (p. 19) but, moved by love, sympathy and indignation, he himself writes with power and passion about “this once happy, but now so tragic, land (p. 19). Yeats (‘The Second Coming’) wrote that the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity, but Caspersz, being among the best, is full of a passionate and selfless intensity. He is one of those to whom the miseries of the world are misery, and will not let them rest (Keats, ‘Fall of Hyperion’). Sri
Lankans in particular should read New Culture and ponder: it will
help to create a new culture (a new way of life) and so, a new society,
a “paradise isle” (tourist slogan) in far more important
terms than landscape and scenery. Amavessa
in French It is a publication of Pragna Publishers. This Buddhist novel has been translated by Ven Mandawala Pannawansa Thera who has already translated Martin Wickramasinghe’s Viragaya into French. These are the only two Sinhalese books available in the French language. The Amavessa translation will be presented to the French public on January 15, 2006 in Paris. To mark this special event friends of Ven. Mandawala Pannawansa Thera have organized a fête with traditional Sri Lankan and Indian dances, songs etc. Lamas, Sri Lankan monks, a Catholic priest will participate in this ceremony. Two professional theatre readers will read parts of the text. Sri Lanka’s ambassador to France will also be present. Ven Pannawansa Thera has been translating French literature into Sinhalese and vice-versa. He has offered to the Sinhalese reader works of Victor Hugo, André Gide, Albert Camus, Molière, Jean Genet, Khalil Gibran & Jalaldeen Rumy etc. He has also translated works of the Dalai Lama and those of the great Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. He has also published a translation of “A Dialogue between His Holiness The Dalai Lama and science professors of the Harvard University”. |
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