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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Nihal Fernando - Beyond the photography
The exhibition of impressive photographs by Studio Times previewed by me last Sunday, is currently on display until March 2, from 10 am to 7 pm, at the Harold Peiris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Centre. However, it does not reveal the whole story about Nihal Fernando, one of its founders and main photographer and strategist. For Nihal Fernando has not only been photographing the wildlife, landscape, archaeology and culture of Sri Lanka, but has also been a vigorous environmental activist. These two facets are complementary for Fernando, as he believes that preventing environmental degradation in Sri Lanka, also assists in preserving its culture, which is essentially based on farming.
On the question of what drove him professionally as a photographer and environmental activist, Nihal Fernando, said it was best described in a phrase by a 6th Century Chinese man, perhaps a philosopher. And that is to help make Sri Lanka, "a land without sorrow". As an example, Fernando mentioned how previously poor people, due to the publicity derived from his photographs, now inhabit bare land in Ussangoda, near Tangalle. Given that one of the main causes of sorrow in this country is the ethnic conflict, I asked how his personal mission helped to ease that situation. "The ethnic conflict is too big an issue for me", said Fernando, "and [therefore] I am not involved in [trying to resolve] that". The small black on yellow sign on Skelton Road, in Colombo 5, leading to an ordinary looking house, where Studio Times has been operating since 1986, belies its status as the premier professional black and white processing and printing studio in Colombo and probably in the whole of Sri Lanka. Black and white printing is a manual affair and these respective tones, enhanced in the darkroom, can often mean the difference between a good photograph and an average one. It is a service they provide at a reasonable cost for both the professional and amateur photographer alike. Studio Times' main source of income and business focus is industrial and commercial photography. However, as they point out, "two of our unofficial aims, are the development and promotion of photography as an art form and the creation of an awareness and appreciation of Sri Lanka's heritage - that is, its natural, archaeological and cultural wealth". It is through using some of the profits of their commercial work, that Nihal Fernando and Studio Times have been able to pursue these noble objectives. This is clearly evident in the exhibition presently on display. On the environmental front, Fernando recalled that a few years ago a plan was underway to allow Phosphate mining at Eppawala, near Anuradhapura, and "sell it dirt cheap to the Americans and the Japanese". Fernando was primarily concerned about the resultant pollution, in the course of the mining process. His opposition in conjunction with others, such as the local Buddhist monks, the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL) and eventually ten trade unions, resulted in it being scrapped. Nihal Fernando believes that the future of traditional farming, which involves the bulk of the population, will only be secured through organic farming. "The mixing of Phosphate with paddy straw and cow dung, results in a fungus that breaks down the phosphate and produces a complete organic fertiliser, which I have been trying to push, but have not got any response from the state", lamented Fernando. (It is well known that the chemical fertilisers that are presently used, ultimately degrade the fertility of the soil in the long-term, with the farmer having to use ever greater quantities to achieve the same yield, before resulting in an uneconomic yield to investment ratio. But commercial interests - now read globalised interests - and the short-term focus of indebted farmers, result in their continued use.) A more recent success for Nihal Fernando's environmental campaigning, together with various concerned organisations, such as Citizens Trust, was the withdrawal of the UNF government's Water Resources Bill. Of particular concern to Fernando and others, in the Bill to privatise the supply of water, was the proposal to classify the waters of streams and rivers, as the resource and property of the privatised body. Such a classification would have seen the end of centuries-old practices of bathing and washing by the river, he said. Speaking about his passion for wildlife, evident in many of his photos of the sixties and seventies he says, "the IMF/World Bank is sending unemployed scientists to come here as 'experts' with our [borrowed] money, who don't know a damn thing". He gives as an example his meeting of an elephant conservationist who had never seen a wild elephant until he came to Sri Lanka. "In their drive to make our national parks profit-orientated, they have contributed nothing but disrupted our entire [Department] of Wild Life Service, which was a dedicated service, some of whose people have sacrificed their lives. And in the rush they are also robbing us of our bio-diversity", said Fernando. Sri Lanka, it should be noted, is ranked 11th in the world, in richness of bio-diversity. Fernando is highly critical of foreign aid, and cites a book written by a World Bank insider that says that eventually, one way or another, 97 cents in every dollar that is borrowed, is siphoned back to the lenders. (Hancock, G, 1989, The Lords of Poverty', The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York.) Many of Nihal Fernando's photographs depict village life, and I asked whether there would be a significant role for farm-centred villages in the future, if Sri Lanka succeeds in industrially developing. Fernando felt that Sri Lanka's development plans have "missed the bus" as it involves "suppressing the small-scale farmer", such as the IMF/World Bank proposals to encourage - or induce - farmers to migrate to urban areas, which would only result in "cardboard houses in slums in our towns". Fernando argued, "Our main hope for the future is the educated rural youth and the small-scale farmer". When I pointed out the increasing cultural westernisation of Sri Lanka's urban youth, with its inherent materialistic outlook, he said he felt that as long as the Sinhalese Buddhist faith was strong, Sri Lanka would have a better future, provided our interests were not surrendered to the American led IMF and World Bank. As for the future of Studio Times, Nihal Fernando believes, that if they continue to be small - as expansion would involve greater emphasis on a total profit-centred operation - they can continue on the same path. Fernando, now at 76 years, is taking a back seat at Studio Times. His daughter, Anu Weerasuriya, who is Managing Director, and a photographer herself, is now largely entrusted to continue the mission. A mission of photographic voyages that will continue the tradition set by a rare individual, a photographer humanely passionate about Sri Lanka's culture and heritage - mostly of the Sinhalese -, but whose humane values, if applied to all the communities in Sri Lanka, might perhaps see a different and better future for all. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
The main business focus of Studio Times is industrial and commercial
photography, but its lesser known unofficial aims have been the creation
of an awareness and appreciation of Sri Lanka's natural heritage. Photo
journalist Rohan Canagasabey talks to Nihal Fernando about the passion
that has driven his life and work.
