M. H. Diluni Sanjana De Silva

All images are photo editions of 50.

M. H. Diluni Sanjana De Silva
‘A genuine smile’, 2016

The female photographer was drawn by genuine sympathy to this man on the busy streets of Ahungalla, a small coastal village in the south west of Sri Lanka. The baseball cap gives him a boyish and confident look, defying the harsh conditions of life with dignity and resilience. Portrait photography is the result of a process of deepening acquaintance and interaction, establishing a relation of equality with the subject. The young female photographer was successful in capturing a personality whose expression oscillates between melancholy and deprivation, courage and an unbending zest for life.