As the touring exhibition ‘Return to Sri Lanka’ opened its doors at its final exhibition venue in Galle, co-curator Menika Van Der Poorten says she’s thrilled by how well it has been received. Beginning in early September, the exhibition she created with lead curator John Falconer from the British Library in London, has been on the move. Travelling from Colombo to Kandy and then to Jaffna before reaching Galle, it has drawn many thousands of visitors – most notably in Kandy, where an estimated 20,000 people stopped to browse through the collection of images that covered over 300 years of Sri Lankan history.
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| Stephen Roman (Regional Director, South Asia- British Council), Governor Southern Province Kumari Balasuriya, Chief Guest Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody MP, and the Mayor of Galle Methsiri de Silva at the opening in Galle on Tuesday. |
The exhibition contains over a 100 images that were mounted on portable displays – just setting up took a demanding eight hours at each venue. Accompanying the images were fairly detailed captions that introduced the works of artists like Robert Knox, Fredrick Fiebig, Samuel Daniell, Paul Hermann and Eugen Ransonnet-Villez. These were the men who followed in the footsteps of soldiers, missionaries and tradesmen; artists and naturalists for most part, they were all intent on cataloguing the rich diversity of Sri Lanka’s landscape and its people, its flora and fauna. For many, their success would set them apart, making them among the first in the world to present images of the island to the Western world and the international scientific community.
Having made a special effort to bring students in to experience the exhibit, the organisers were pleased to host several school groups. Over 40 young volunteers from different cities offered their time and energy, manning the exhibition space and leading guided tours. Menika was pleasantly surprised when most people who came in went around and actually engaged with the exhibition. What isn’t surprising is the occasional translation dispute. “I spent so much time trying to get the captions right, and I think we still didn’t get it right,” she says ruefully, adding “with any translation, you just have so many opinions. Still, I think it’s very good to we did it in the three languages.”
They have been warmly welcomed wherever they went and Menika says she’s found a great deal of support, particularly from the hosts at each location and the exhibition sponsors. “I didn’t realise it would draw so much in terms in the general public, that there would be such an interest in it,” says Menika, “especially with so many young people.” She says they were also delighted by how many people approached them afterward with descriptions of maps and photographs that had been in the family for decades. “Across the country, hidden in people’s houses, are all these old images and maps,” says Menika. “It will be nice to figure out a way to exhibit those.”
‘Return to Sri Lanka’ will end in Galle on Thursday (November 24), after which it will be made a gift of to the nation. For those who missed it, an online version of the exhibition has already been made available by the British Council for 12 months at www.britishcouncil.org/srilanka. The exhibition is funded by the World Collections Programme and produced by the British Library and the British Council, with the images drawn from the collections of the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museums, the Natural History Museum, London and the National Museum, Colombo. |
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