YUNGHI KIM PHOTOGRAPHY

SRI LANKA

CONFLICTED LAND

A nation that constantly witnesses savage violence. A sorrowful, yet sunlit and rich in religion, Sri Lanka may be the world's most conflicted land.

Caption with each picture.

All images copyright 2010 Yunghi Kim,

all rights reserved

A moment of peace, a view at dawn from Adam's Peak at sunrise. A crossroads for the worlds four major religions.
  
Above the clouds, climbers worship at a small Buddhist temple. The "footprint" at its apex is also ascribed by Christians to St. Thomas, a follower of Jesus, while Hindus believe it was crated by teh god Shiva. Muslims say it is the mark of Adam, who wept here following his exile from Eden.
   
The view from the summit at sunrise.
     
  
Lights snake up the hillside as pilgrims begin the predawn climb to the top of Adam's Peak. Buddhist consider the 2,2243-m mountain sacred for a footprint-shaped depression at its summit, said to be left by the Buddha.
   
A mother and child in predawn darkness prepare for the climb up Adam's Peak.
  
Pilgrim's receive a blessing during the climb.
     
  
A worshipper prays at sunrise. people of all ages, even children in bare feet climb the pilgrimage. It takes about four hours to climb to the top, thousands of steps.
  
Family climbs down the mountain. It takes four hours to climb to the top, thousands of steps, but more difficult to climb down thousands of steps.
  
Worshippers light oil lamps to honor the Buddha's on his birthday. Sri Lanka's Buddhist Sinhalese, the majority ethnic group, have fought a 23-year long insurrection by the Hindu Tamil minority.
     
  
Villagers watch and pray as a parade celebrating Buddhist birthday passes.
  
Village girls parade to celebrate the Buddha's birthday.
  
Boys watch troupe of Sri Lankan Classical dancers performing for Buddha's birthday.
     
  
A group of men take an evening swim on touristy Unawatuna beach, a popular surfing and tourist spot. Tsunami in 2004 destroyed much of the businesses and homes in this area.
  
School children walk past Tamil soldiers.
  
A Tamil family lives under a bridge. They are afraid the Sri Lankan military will bomb their houses in retaliation for suicide bombing at Sri Lankan army headquarters.
     
  
Annapoorana Muhhuraja and her two daughters ponder the remains of their burned-out house. Muhhuraja says that her Sinhalese nieghbors burned down hers and other Tamil houses in retaliation for the death of a Sinhalese boy. The family now lives in a school.
  
Check points and searches are daily life.
   
Vendors sell balloons and kites on the boardwalk in the capital. Despite the civil war raging on the island, and the prominently armed soldiers on its street corners, Colombo hangs on a sense of normalcy.
     
  
A family contemplates the sunset on the boardwalk in Colombo.