Sunday Times 2
Talks on the politics of photography
View(s):The Collective for Historical Dialogue and Memory (CHDM) presents two talks this week exploring the politics behind photography practice, collections, and the interpretation of visual sources.
The first talk on July 30 will explore the shifting politics of the Mahaweli Villages created during the Mahaweli Development Project in the 1970s through a visual history. Photographer Kaushalya Nandasena talks about her experiences revisiting her village to document the histories of resettlements through oral histories and a community photo archive.
Kaushalya holds a special degree in Image Arts from the University of Kelaniya. She has curated exhibitions “Kalapura” and “Mulgamwesiyo” in schools in her village, exploring the political shift over the years through the lives of the first settlers in the village. The discussion is moderated by Dr Amali Wedagedara in Sinhala.
The second talk on July 31 is titled “This is not the correct history” by Professor Neelika Jayawardane. It questions the evidentiary nature of documentary photography, foregrounding the slippery ethics of reading images of the decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka. Her presentation intertwines personal narrative, photography theory, and reflections on the place of photography and art in the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Neelika is a Professor of English at the State University of New York-Oswego, and a Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender & Class, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. This talk will be in English.
Both talks are free and open to the public. They start at 5.30 pm at 25 Elibank Road, Colombo 5.