Here’s a personal project ‘I’ve loved doing ‘Hands of Sri Lanka’

I have been visiting Sri Lanka for many years and love the beautiful emerald island, it’s people, wildlife, cultures, food, climate, surf….. the list goes on.

Whilst travelling to various places around the world I have spent lots of time taking photographs of the people and sights that I come across.

A few years ago whilst in Sri Lanka, I decided to start taking photographs of peoples hands undertaking their profession or past time. I also took an individual portrait of each person too.

When photographing a persons portrait, whether candidly or not, it often developed into a pleasant, short and interesting conversation that usually only lasted for a short while.

However photographing someones hands was a whole different ball game. The conversations were far more in depth and longer. It confused people, who were more used to having photographs taken that included their face. They wanted to know why I was doing it, this opened up some great conversations and I learnt more about the person and what made them tick “so to speak”. I learnt more about them as a person and their thoughts and view points. It was a privilege to be told a bit about their personal lives, joys, views and struggles.

Hands reveal so much about us. We all have unique finger prints, marks, blisters and scratches, yet at the same time when taken on their own they could represent so many people and are anonymous. It is the anonymity of a set of hands that represents so many people that in turn represents Sri Lanka, that made me think.

Everyone plays their own part, no matter how insignificant or huge that impact might be on the world.

We should all realise we are one and need to join our hands together, to make thisworld a better place. No matter which country that might be. I have concentrated this little project in Sri Lanka, but the same philosophy applies to any country and the world as a whole

“The Hands that make Sri Lanka…

This is all very poignant at the moment with all the sadness and suffering that is going on in the world.