Category Archives: photography

Kumar Sangakkara Adorns the Field of Thuppahi

Assembled by Michael Roberts, who had the pleasure of befriending Kshema & Kumari Sangakkara at a chance meeting at the Premadasa Stadium (i.e Khettarama) when their son, Kumar, was playing for Sri Lanka’s B Team … and thus secured the pleasure of visiting their villa known as  “Engeltine Cottage” – a famous residence associated with the Hannadige Pieris family (about whom a guy named  Roberts had crafted a book in 1976 ….. https://thuppahis.com/2020/10/07/jeronis-pieris-letters-in-coffee-table-book-insights-into-19th-century-ceylon/).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engeltine Cottage in Kandy: The Intertwining of Three Families ……. https://thuppahis.com › 2012/04/04 › engeltine-cottage-in-kandy-the-intertwining-of-three-families-pieris-sangakkara-and-krishnapillai/

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Revelations within Colonial Photographs of Ceylon: “Veins of Influence”

Veins of Influence: Colonial Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in Early Photographs and Collections, by Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra

 [This book is a pioneering monograph that brings a rich array of early and previously unpublished images of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) into the global discourse of photography, pairing a striking lens of visual appreciation with distinctly humanizing perspectives.

 

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Heavenly Bliss in Sri Lanka: Holidaying in Galle & Colombo, 24 July–4 August 2023 

Ron Slee of Flinders University & Adelaide, ……  with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi and some End Notes added

My interest in visiting Sri Lanka has been building for decades, generated by my friendship with two Sri Lankan nationals with whom I play tennis, Michael Roberts and Justin La Brooy. Justin had written me a very helpful short history of the country and added his recommendations of where to see wildlife and scenic beauty and Michael had sent hundreds of photos and personal stories that helped me plan my visit.

Unexpectedly this year,[1] I was able to spend 11 memorable days in their country of origin, including two days visiting Galle Fort where Michael had grown up in the 1940s and 50s.

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Remembering Percy Abeysekera: Lanka’s Cricketing Flagbearer

Michael Roberts

 Percy Abeysekera has passed away recently …. carrying the Sri Lankan flag and reams of cricketing memories with him to an abode in the skies:  memories that encompassed at least 70-72 years of cricketing cheer. Yes, that long a span. To me, Percy was first and foremost, an Aloysian. When I joined the St. Aloysius cheering squad as a 14-to-16 year old at the Galle Esplanade during our cricketing matches against Richmond, Mahinda and other schools, Percy was one of our cheerleaders. So, his patriotism and his crazy cricketing virtuosity was nurtured in Galle …. at our school.

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Rushdi al-Saraj the Acclaimed Photo-Journalist killed in Gaza Bombardment

ITEM in The ECONOMIST, 28 October 2023, .… with this leading line: “Rushdi Sarraj, photo-journalist and film-maker, was killed in an Israeli missile strike on October 22nd, aged 31

ANYONE GOING to Rushdi Sarraj’s photo stream on Flikr was in for a surprise. It opened with pictures of birds. They were common terns, trim and black-backed, and he caught them wheeling, diving, probing the waves and riding them, as he loved to do himself. Rather than focus on the crowded backdrop of the Gaza shore, full of fishing boats, shacks and grim apartments, he snapped the birds over the blue open sea or against the blue open sky.

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Savouring Sri Lanka Today, 2023: A Glorious Ride

Paddy Hintz in The Weekend Australian, 25 October 2023, bearing this title “Jungles, curries and wild elephants: why Sri Lanka is a ride”

We’re just in time to climb into Kandalama’s beautiful infinity pool and be” mesmerised by fireflies as monkeys sift through the trees beside us.

The morning tour is spectacular. Sigiriya Rock Fortress features cascading water gardens, a vertigo-inducing climb to find the remnants of a paranoid and murderous king’s domain (complete with ancient swimming pool) and a cliff-face cave full of frescoes of scantily clad concubines.

Sigiriya rock fortress, Sri Lanka. Photo: Dylan Shaw

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Palestine & the Propaganda War by Video: Issues

ISSUE:  Question from A British-Lankan Friend, 16 October 2023

Hi Michael, I would like to give this video much wider circulation, but I need a link…can’t find one!”  ….  …

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, THE REFERENCE BEING = video of Egyptians walking across desert with backpacks of assistance for Palestinians in Gaza …. SEE …. https://thuppahis.com/2023/10/16/support-for-palestine-on-different-scales-in-london-from-egypt/#more-76263

Is this verifiable? There’s lots of fake news being put around by both sides. I would love to give this video wider coverage.

ANSWER from “A Middle Eastern Specialist”

The source for this is Kurdistan24 — a news source based in Iraq with a bureau office in Washington DC.  This video is circulating on many telegram sites, for instance, this one ……………… https://t.me/llordofwar/216918

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Vengeance Unrestrained in Palestine: Pictorials Awesome, Atrocious, Awful

This graphic video-item was sent to me by a venerable Burgher-Lankan friend in Melbourne. It is NOT for viewing by the fainthearted ……  because it is a deliberate circulation of a graphic example of HAMAS ‘justice’. 

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Mass NUDE Assembly at River in Aid of Cancer Project

Tayla Coucaud in The Australian, 11 October 2023

A New York-based artist has put out a call to thousands of Queenslanders to strip down and possibly enter the Brisbane city river for a series of nude images. American photographer Spencer Tunick will be collab­orating with Brisbane Powerhouse to stage a series of nude photographs along Brisbane River later in November.

Sydneysiders naked at Bondi each in 2022

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East Berlin & Check-Point Charlie, 1976 …. The Depth of the Cold War

Michael Roberts

My good friend Lam Seneviratne in Colombo has chosen to insert this comment in response to one of the Thuppahi Items: “In 1972 I had the opportunity to go through Checkpoint Charlie at Freidrichstrase to East Berlin. The contrast was stark, everything was drab and depressing.” … see https://thuppahis.com/2023/10/09/the-berlin-wall-dividing-west-east-berlin-epitome-of-the-cold-war/.

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