Cultural DIARY

Prasanna Vithanage's "Debiddo" at Lionel Wendt

A special performance of Prasanna Vithanage's "Debiddo" will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, Colombo on Wednesday 25 August at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The play, stars veteran Sri Lankan stage and screen actors Jayalath Manoratne, Jayani Senanayake, Damayanthi Fonseka, Jayasri Chandrajith and Prasad Sooriyarachchi. It is a translation of Nobel Laureate Dario Fo's 1981 political satire "Trumpets & Raspberries," which revolves around mistaken identity and political intrigue. Translated and directed by Prasanna Vithanage, "Debiddo" has been playing to packed houses across Sri Lanka.

‘Commentaries on Living Colour’

by Sheahan GANESHAN

Renowned Sri Lankan photographer Angelo De Mel will hold his third 'Commentaries on Living Colour' exhibition at the Colombo Art Gallery, Colombo 7 from August 28 to 30.

Angelo De Mel

In this digital age, it is indeed rare to find photographers still clinging doggedly to the older medium of print film. Rarer still is that special breed of photographers who prefer to work in black and white as their creative medium.

One such photographer is Angelo De Mel who holds his fifth exhibition of photographers entitled "Commentaries on Living III" sponsored by Kodak, at the Colombo Art Gallery from 28 to 30 August. His first exhibition under the same title was held at the Alliance Francais Colombo in 1994, and Commentaries on Living II at the British Council in 1999. He has also held two exhibitions entitled "We are also your children", with the intention of drawing attention to handicapped children in homes, in the Buddhist Society hall in Kandy and Public Library in Colombo.

A specialty of De Mel's work is that he strives to capture a decisive moment from the flow of life as it happens without any posing or manipulation, and by giving it a title taken from a literary text or a religious teaching, lifts the photograph from the confines of the frame to the realm of thought and feeling. Hence, the title Commentaries on Living, which is borrowed, appropriately enough, from the well-known series of books by the great Indian philosopher Krishnamurti. His two earlier exhibitions consisted entirely of photographs of this nature. Of the first exhibition at the Alliance Francais, critic Suresh Priyanjan De Silva said in the Dinamina that the whole exhibition was a theme for meditation, while on "Commentaries on Living II" at the British Council critic Asirvadani Hettiarachchi said in the "Janata" that all the pictures there were not second to one another in their ability to invoke feeling although taken with an old camara. In the present exhibition the photographer, has relaxed this theme and hopes to present an even number of black and white and colour photographs which he has taken since his last exhibition.

Angelo De Mel was born in Moratuwa and educated at St. Sebastian's College, where he says that he acquired a knowledge of photography and cinematography from a great educationist who taught there, Bro-Thomas, who believed more in vocational training according to one's abilities, rather than everyone going to university and creating a class of jobless graduates. With this in mind Bro-Thomas spared no effort to find the funds to build the Technical School within the college premises, which he achieved after so many raffles, lotteries and pin prick cards later.

One of the subjects that Bro-Thomas taught there to his students was photography, in addition to motor mechanism, shorthand and typing and even soap making. Encouraged by the efforts of this visionary, De Mel got together with his classmates Karunapala, Leonard, Tissa, Stanley and others and produced a film called "Wanagatha Kolla".

Language courses

The Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) is now accepting applications for Sinhala, Tamil, Chinese, Italian and Spanish Language Courses offered by its Language and Cultural Studies Division.

The BCIS will commence 100 hours basic English Course concluding with a public examination conducted by the Department of Examination in September, 2010. It also offers French Language Course in collaboration with Alliance Française de Kotte.

The target group for the Course is Officials of Government Ministries, Departments, State Corporations.

All related information and application forms can be obtained by calling over at BCIS Office during regular office hours from Tuesday to Saturday from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.

Applications can also be downloaded from BCIS Website ( www.bcis.edu.lk) or by sending an e-mail request to [email protected]. The deadline for receiving application is Tuesday, 17 August.

Godage Awards ceremony

The Godage Award ceremony for the year 2009 will be held on September 2 at Mahaweli Centre Colombo. This is the 12th Award Ceremony which was commenced in 1993.

A special feature of this year's award ceremony is that awards and cash prizes will be given to literary works in Sinhalese, Tamil and English media. The Award Ceremony is sponsored by Desha Bandu Sirisumana Godage, the proprietor of the Godage Publishers.

The best novel in Sinhalese, Tamil and English will be given a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 while a prize of Rs 25,000 will be given to best Short Story, Poetry and Youth Novel. For the budding writers, gift vouchers will be given to buy books throughout the year.

'Sithuwam' at Lionel Wendt

Dileepa Gunatilake's solo exhibition of paintings 'Sithuwam' will be held at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo 7 from August 20-22. It will be open to the public from 4.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m.

'The Other Side'

An exhibition showcasing their employees' diverse talents is being held by advertising firm Phoenix Ogilvy at the Barefoot Gallery on August 28 and 29.

Titled 'The Other Side' because it shows the banked creative potential of their staff which the world does not often get to see, the exhibition will include paintings, sculptures, installations and photography, along with dance and music, all done by the employees of Phoenix Ogilvy.

Majella-Clancy's Residency Exhibition

The exhibition by Majella -Clancy will be held from August 25 to September 1 at 'Red Dot Gallery' 36 A, Baddagana Road South, Pitakotte.

Majella Clancy is a visiting lecturer at the University of Ulster, Belfast and is engaged in a Practice-led PhD in Contemporary Women's Painting at the same university.

‘Dharma Gaveshana’

Vasantha Namaskarage's 74th exhibition of paintings entitled "Dharma Gaveshana" will be held at the Public Library auditorium, Racecourse Road, Badulla from August 15 to September 15.

Rs. 50,000 award for best novel

Dayawansa Jayakody Book Publishers, Colombo 10, will award Rs. 50,000 and a certificate to the winner of the best novel in 2010.

Competitors could select more than one theme which contributes to social advancement. The hand-written copies in A4 size paper not exceeding 50,000 words should reach the publishers on or before December 31.