Anthropologist and Photographer Reinterpret "Pattini-Kannaki" Cult Via Photographs

THE HINDU
By Shailaja Tripathi

Devotee at the Door Opening ceremony of the annual Kannaki Amman festival, Manchanthudawai, Eastern Province

SRI LANKA---During the brutal civil war in Sri Lanka many found shelter in her spaces and many saw life slipping away in those same spaces as the militant outfit LTTE used some of those sites to inflict more damage. These are the shrines of the goddess Pattini-Kannaki revered by Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka. With “Invoking the Goddess” (presented by Ritu Menon’s Women Unlimited), the anthropologist and photographer duo of Malathi de Alwis and Sharni Jayawardena set out to document the Pattini-Kannaki cult and retell it in the context of war. The result is an assortment of 50 photographs on view at the art gallery of India International Centre. [link]