Sinhalese stilt fisherman from Weligama, a small fishing village on the southern coastal tip of Sri Lanka. The fishermen stand or sit on a small crossbar tied to a vertical pole planted about half a metre into the coral reef bed. As far as I can tell, this unusual fishing method is solely unique to Sri Lanka. Slide scan, shot with an Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic, SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4.
Tags: stilt fishing Weligama Sinhalese Sri Lanka DocumentaryPhotography StreetPhotography VisualAnthropology PhotoJournalism HumanInterest People Portrait asia analog film
© All Rights Reserved
Vadiga Patuna dancers from southern Sri Lanka's low country await the start of the annual Navam Maha Perahera at the Gangaramaya Temple near Colombo’s Beira Lake. Slide scan from a compact point-and-shoot flash camera, shot on the auspicious evening of Full Moon Poya Day.
The Vadiga Patuna is a traditional Sinhalese dance performance and comic ritual drama from the low country. It depicts the arrival of sorcerer-Brahmins reputedly from the north with claims to healing powers. They are dressed in Rajput-styled saffron tunics and turbans, spiffy black beards and waxed handlebar mustaches. Their faces are lightened with powder. The theatrics are pronounced, the dance movements stiff and wooden.
The larger narrative incorporates elements of sorcery and exorcism associated with pre-Buddhist practices, comedy and mime, farce and satire - and wordplay with references to current social and political events.
The anthropologists tend to search for a deeper structure of meaning associated with these Sinhalese ritual dramas. Deconstructionist analyses of the Vadiga Patuna, for example, tend to focus on broader issues of power and powerlessness, consciousness and resistance, and a "theatre of the absurd" relevant to the lived experiences of low-country village life.
© All Rights Reserved
Best In Lightbox
Tags: galleryoffantasticshots people asia analog film
© All Rights Reserved
An Iban boy peers from behind an oil drum at a remote longhouse dock on the Rajang River deep in the heart of Sarawak's verdant rainforest region, East Malaysia, Borneo. Digital film scan, Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4), circa 1973. explore#91
The longhouse is naturally positioned on a high riverbank overlooking the essential Rajang River and treacherous Pelagus Rapids that begin in the backdrop. It is a half-day’s journey upriver by local longboat from Kapit, a small riverine supply town that caters to the many Iban and Orang Ulu longhouse communities in the upper Rajang River region of Sarawak. The remote trading bazar of Belaga is another day or two further upriver near the river's source.
The modern era of fast travel and organized tourism has accelerated indigenous contact with the outside world over the past several decades, contributing to sweeping social changes and a gradual erosion of the region's original charm.
While the legendary warmth and hospitality of the Iban longhouse communities persist, much of the mystery and serendipity of independent travel to this remote region is sadly on the wane.
© All rights to these photos and descriptions are reserved.
Tags: Borneo Malaysia Sarawak Kapit Belaga Rejang Asia indigenous Iban Ulu longhouse DavidSchweitzer DocumentaryPhotography StreetPhotography HumanInterest VisualAnthropology PhotoJournalism people DocumentaryPortrait StreetPortrait VanishingCultures traditional SoutheastAsia tourism modernization tradition ethnic culture film analog Pelagus explore portrait Faces travel gaze outdoor
© All Rights Reserved
Gasing or the traditional game of top spinning is particularly popular in the Malay kampongs of Penninsular Malaysia. The meticulously hand-crafted, saucer-shaped top or gasing uri - unique mainly to the northern state of Kelantan - is spun with a thick cord that is first tightly wound around the top and then thrown or launched to set it spinning.
Players and spectators alike settle down as they await a conclusion to this centuries-old slow-burn contest of gasing uri. The player with the longest-spinning top wins the match. According to one account, the current record stands at close to two hours although some tops are reported to have lasted up to four hours under exceptional conditions.
Gasing competitions are serious village-team affairs and a source of local pride. Individual players specialize in different stages of the competition, such as winding the cord or scooping the top off the ground after it is thrown. They often train long and hard to defend the reputation of their village. A pawang or traditional medicine man was summoned to perform rites for this particular event and venue before the match began.
The event involved competing teams from two rural villages after the rice harvest in the northern state of Kelentan. Different regional styles of competitive top spinning are still played in Malaysia today. Digital film scan, Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, circa 1972.
© All rights to these photos and descriptions are reserved.
Malay Top Spinning - Video1 | Video2
Tags: Kelantan Gasing top top-spinning competition village Malaysia film analog people asia kampung kampong outdoor pawang
© All Rights Reserved
Classical Khmer kings of medieval Cambodia promoted the notion of Devarāja, a cult of the "god-king” that provided the religious rationale for royal authority. They were depicted as divine universal rulers or deified monarchs with transcendental qualities.
The gigantic smiling faces at Bayon Temple portray the great Mahayana Buddhist king, Jayavarman VII, as a living god on earth - a Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara or enlightened Buddhist saint overseeing a vast and disparate empire with an enigmatic blend of benevolence and absolute authority.
Bayon Temple served as the primary locus of the royal cult and was Jayavarman's personal mausoleum at the height of his rein over the Khmer Empire in the late 12th Century. The temple is positioned at the centre of the ancient Angkor Thom city complex and rural metropolis in northwestern Cambodia. Over 200 serenely smiling visages carved on more than 50 sandstone face-towers remain throughout the temple.
© All rights to these photos and descriptions are reserved.
Rethinking Portraiture | Personal Faves | National Geographic
Tags: Khmer kings Cambodia Devarāja cult god-king Bayon Angkor Thom temple faces Mahayana Buddhist Jayavarman Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara religion portrait asia UnescoWorldHeritageSite wat SoutheastAsia architecture culture ethnic DavidSchweitzer DocumentaryPhotography StreetPhotography HumanInterest VisualAnthropology PhotoJournalism explore People art
© All Rights Reserved