20th July, 1997

	Contents The word by Chunky Monkey Grandfather’s diary The vanishing tattoo A close call over the Taiga The Bird of Prey Man -made Materials
It was the return encounter of the Bradby Shield match between Royal and Trinity at the Sugathadasa Stadium and as much as the scintillating rugby fare dished out, the fans themselves proved an attraction for photographer Dunstan Wickramaratne

The word

By Chunky Monkey

The Gallery 706 has of late been more of a display area for Barefoot goods rather than new artists ( a commercial reality check) so it was nice to see it being used for the more cerebral purpose of an exhibition of pictures called "Sri Lankan Images" by Kevin Clogstoun. He is a Sri Lankan born Australian who gave up a career in engineering so that he could take photographs full time. This is one case where giving up the day job was the right thing to do.

His images of Sri Lanka are sometimes brutal, sometimes meditative, always interesting. A peahen and rooster frozen in an artifice of hyperreality, like a scene from a Luis Bunuel movie, a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel brought to still life. Buddha statues viewed through a series of stone arches, framed in serenity, their textured faces calm in repose. The faces of young Muslim children in mosques in Pettah, the strain of sinew as teams of fishermen pull in the nets, the smile of a woman digging a well in Udappuwa, boys asleep on fishing nets , captured during their noon siesta , one of them caught in a web of his dreams , the other peeping out behind one upturned palm. A Prospero like figure smiles benevolently , his shoulders draped with fishing nets. After the opening, the happy artist was seen waltzing away to the sounds of Quincy Jones and the Q's Jook Joint album - and happy he should be too . The Chunk is unsure how long this exhibition lasts for but if you do get the opportunity please do go and check it out - it will be worth your visit.

Two boys lying
on fishing nets at noon
one asleep,
Caught in the web of his dreams
while the other forms a telescope with
his fingers, looking at the sky outside the house.
One dreaming of the sea
the other of defying gravity
the end is the same
escape water and air will be
the accomplices to flight.
Away from reality
into the mind's halflight when Prospero strides in nets draped around his aged shoulders,
barefoot
looking for his Ariel
who will rise to the lure ?
"Prospero and Ariel"

Continue to Mirror Magazine page 2 - Grandfather’s diary