Cultural DIARY

The Gaza Mono Logues in Colombo

With the students of Ladies' College and Wesley College, Colombo, Floating Space will present two public performances of The Gaza Mono-Logues on October 30 and 31 at the Goethe Institute Hall. Directed by Jake Oorloff, the performance will 'highlight the issues, experiences and tragedy of children caught in situations of war all over the world'. Over the last 30 years, the young people and children of Sri Lanka have had varying experiences of war, conflict and violence.

Geographic location and individual circumstance have shaped the disparate nature of these experiences and contributed to the varying degrees and understandings of the situation.

These varying experiences, however, do not take away from the fact that while some children were impacted by the direct violence, loss of family and homes, every child's life and psychology have been altered by being witness to war.

In other parts of the world children caught in armed conflict and living in war zones continue to experience the harsh realities of violence and loss. And it is in this context that Ashtar Theatre, in 2009 led by Ali Abu Yassine, started working with youth living in Gaza.

In 2010, supported by UNICEF, a group of Palestinian youth between the ages of 14 and 18 were trained in workshop using drama therapy and creative writing techniques. The first three months of workshop focused on the wounds of the Gaza attack of December 2008-January 2009, the individual experiences of each youth, their dreams, fears and hopes.

The youth in these workshops documented their stories and experiences that led to the creation of The Gaza Mono Logues.

The Gaza Mono-Logues later developed into a global initiative for peace and non-violence with Ashtar Theatre inviting theatre companies from its global artistic network to produce performances of the text with youth groups in 30 world cities.

Floating Space Theatre Company, based in Colombo will join The New York Theatre Workshop, The Pegasus, Oxford and companies based in Gaza Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and Nazareth among others to produce the monologues in October. The second stage of the project will take place in November, where each partnering country will send one young actor to be a part of an international cast that will perform The Gaza Mono Logues in New York at the General Assembly of the United Nations for its annual meeting on The Question of Palestine.

'As Sri Lanka seeks to recover from our haunting past, its recognition acknowledgment and validation is significant in an attempt to heal,' says Oorloff.

Floating Space believes that the process of children in Colombo working on the text and production - and the subsequent travel to perform with the international cast - will be an expression of solidarity with children in similar situations as experienced by children in Sri Lanka, and those who support initiatives for peace and non-violence.

Photographic exhibition

Harsha Maduranga Jayakesera an international award winning designer/photographer will hold his first solo exhibition at the Lionel Wendt's Harold Peiris Gallery on October 24 and 25.

One of the photographs

Harsha who has featured his photographs at exhibitions in the US , Austria, Australia, Qatar, Brazil, Luxembourg, Singapore, China and Slovakia won the prestigious International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) award in 2005 and a Gold medal at the World's biggest photographic awards competition "Austrian Trierinberg Super Circuit 2010".

It was the first time after 18 years a Sri Lankan won a prestigious FIAP medal after H. M. R. Perera in 1988.

One of his photographs was selected as one of the 100 best pictures of the world at the Slovenia's international photo exhibition in 2008 and he is also a blue ribbon holder of the Britain's Royal Photographic society.

The exhibition that will mark nine years of his life as a photographer will feature Harsha's entire collection of award winning works including the one which bagged him the FIAP bronze medal "Ape Appachchi" (Father) under the category - Portraits and also the one which won him the coveted Austrian gold medal "Shadow".

Harsha is a past student of C. W. W. Kannangara Vidyalaya, Colombo 8 and Nalanda College, Colombo 10. The exhibition will be open from 9.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.