Seneka Abeyratne has a soft spot for villages set midway between town and countryside, just outside urban limits, and preferably with a body of water in the background. He lives in one such village, here in Sri Lanka, and visits the other, in the south of France, every couple of years.
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| Seneka Abeyratne |
As a recreational photographer, he has lovingly documented both places in two sharply contrasting photo collections. Last year he published a book of black and white photographs of the village Wewala-Piliyandala, outside Colombo, which has been his home for the past three years. “Facets of Wewala” contains more than 135 pictures, taken over a period of 12 months. And this year, in a two-week spell of inspired shooting, he captured the French fishing village of Bouzigues in images that he has digitally modified and mounted in an impressive photo-art exhibition now on view at the Alliance Francaise, Colombo.
“Wewala could be called a village by the river, the Bolgoda, and Bouzigues a village by the lagoon, L'Etang de Thau,” Seneka says. “The river has shrimp farms, while the lagoon has oyster farms. There are many similarities.
“Bouzigues is a picturesque fishing village that is famous for oysters and mussels. This area, known as Languedoc Roussillons, is a very beautiful part of southern France. In the summer of 2007 I made my fourth trip to Bouzigues and took the photos that formed the template for my digital art exhibition.”
Seneka’s camera creativity is more often than not triggered by striking natural light effects. Many of the Wewala pictures, he says, were taken during early morning walks, with the first rays of sunlight stirring the village into life. The Bouzigues pictures were taken during the summer, at different times of day, each passing hour producing a different lighting effect.
“The light in Bouzigues is very clear and bright. This is ideal for artists who like to use strong and vibrant colours in their paintings. The drive from Bouzigues to Arles – famous for its medieval architecture – takes only a couple of hours. The celebrated ‘Yellow House’ that Van Gogh painted is in Arles. It’s the house where he and Gauguin lived and worked for a while. My exhibit, ‘Modern House’, was inspired by the ‘Yellow House’.”
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| The port |
The 36 pictures in “Images de Bouzigues” are both art and photography – photographs transformed into “paintings” with the use of technological tools. The images, from near-real to surreal, get a variety of art treatments, with effects that range from oils to watercolours and crayon. Some get more heavy “arty” treatment than others; in pictures like “Mayme” and “Marine Drive”, it is hard to discern the original photo image lying under the thick layering of “brushstrokes”. The overall effect is that of a happy and inspired colourist having a field day with a limitless palette, while playing around with the concepts of various French art movements.
“I have consciously combined or mixed different artistic styles. My favourite artists are the Impressionists (Monet), the neo-Impressionists (Seurat), the post-Impressionists (Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin), and the Fauvists (Matisse). My inspiration derives from these great artists, but at the same time I have tried to develop an authentic style I can call my own. I am new to digital art. This is only the beginning. I have a long way to go to perfect my style, while simultaneously exploring new dimensions of post-modern art and non-naturalistic use of strokes and colour. In conventional colour photography, you are stuck with the colours you get when you take a picture. I want to add painterly effects to my photos. This is why I turned to digital art.”
Guests at the exhibition opening, on November 14, were treated to a six-minute video of all 36 pictures, and they were overwhelmed. With the lights dimmed, the images projected on the big screen took on a second, hyper-luminous life. The colours were ravishing, almost hallucinogenic – skies sweetened pink or burned acidic yellow, a red house smouldering, lagoon waters glowing like neon.
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| Twilight |
Rolling clouds |
The inspiration for the pictures came about during a twilight stroll in Bouzigues, the artist says. “The sky was changing colour, and while gazing down at the lagoon, my mind was filled with vivid, abstract images. It dawned on me that my subconscious was pushing me in a new direction, and I was filled with emotion and excitement. If not for this transcendental experience, I would not have discovered the magical world of digital art.
“After returning to Sri Lanka, I decided to teach myself Photoshop, so I could add artistic effects to my digital photos. These include colours, strokes, lines and textures.”
An epiphany such as Seneka experienced in Bouzigue does not happen every day, and the artist must act upon it or possibly lose a chance in a lifetime.
These days, things French are top of the agenda for Seneka, who is also an award-winning playwright. In October, his play “Midnight Train” was performed in French at the Colombo celebration of Lire en Fête, an international literary festival presented by Alliance Francaise centres around the world. The work was selected from his collection of plays, “Three Star K”, which won the 2006 Gratiaen Prize. Meanwhile, he is brushing up on his spoken French, which he will need when he goes to France next summer to present his Bouzigues show in the very town that inspired it.
(“Images de Bouzigues” will be on view at the Alliance Francaise de Colombo, 11 Barnes Place, Colombo 7,
till December 5) |
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