Stories of people, place, and change.

Documentary photography by Nayanahari Abeynayake, exploring everyday life, identity, inequality, memory, and the communities shaped by Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

Exhibitions

Recent and upcoming presentations of Nayanahari Abeynayake’s work.

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Stories - Photographs from Sri Lanka, where private lives meet public history.

  • Three young girls on the beach smiling and holding a large piece of driftwood between them.

    Galle, My Home

    A personal series from Sri Lanka’s southern coast — children, workers, weather, roads, and the small encounters that make a place familiar.

  • A person with dark hair in a bun, wearing a pink shirt and multicolored sleeves, is sitting on the ground amid old rusted metal pipes and debris, working with red chili peppers laid out on a burlap cloth.

    These Are Not Dewdrops of Jaffna

    A quiet study of post-war life in northern Sri Lanka, where domestic routines continue among the visible and invisible remains of conflict.

  • Line of police officers in riot gear standing outside on a paved area, facing forward. Several people are gathered on the ledge above them, some holding flags, with a cloudy sky in the background.

    Aragalaya

    Sri Lanka’s 2022 protest movement seen as a public reckoning — a country gathering in anger, exhaustion, memory, and hope.

  • A man carrying a bag over his shoulder stands inside a building near the entrance, which shows signs of fire damage. The floor is charred and debris is scattered. The staircase next to him has a wooden banister, and the wall near the entryway has black smoke marks.

    Where the Fire Entered

    A quiet record of the aftermath of anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka — damaged mosques, burnt rooms, and the fragile work of return.

  • A person wearing a yellow and red outfit sitting on the ground, holding a framed black and white portrait of a young man. In front of them, their feet are visible, showing cracked and dry skin, with one toe wrapped in cloth.

    The Missing Remain

    A portrait of enforced disappearance in Sri Lanka, told through a mother, a photograph, and the long life of unanswered absence.