A Journey Through Sri Lanka’s Landscapes of Memory

Any country that emerges from decades of armed conflict and violence would necessarily be littered with what may be called landscapes of memory. These are places where memories of people who have died would be embedded in different ways: places where loved ones perished, which have no markers of violence now; places where kindred are buried; formal and informal monuments erected in memory of those who have died in battle as combatants. While individuals will always remember those in their families who have died violently, in the privacy of their homes or in rituals in places of worship conducted without much fanfare, nowhere in the world would it be possible for structures of remembrance to become sentinels of memory in public space without power. And that power would always be unequal. In the aftermath of any war, victors would ensure that those who were considered enemies do not have any space in landscapes of formal public memory. Irrespective of such an outcome, individuals will continue to remember where their loves ones might have died, even though there is no monument to remember them by. This photo essay is a journey across such landscapes of memory in the context of Sri Lanka’s civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Tigers (LTTE) that lasted for 30 years and ended only in 2009. At the height of its military and political power in northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE paid particular attention to sustain the memory of its combatants to generate a sense of support for the organisation as well as a source of inspiration to future guerrillas. This was mainly done by building and maintaining war cemeteries (see Figure 1) and erecting specific monuments (see Figures 2 and 3) in areas under its control. Photo Essay