Vindhya Buthpitiya
@vindi-b.bsky.social
Anthropologist of War and Pictures. Conflict. Politics. Resistance. Visual Culture. International Development. Sri Lanka. http://citizensofphotography.org
Pinned
Vindhya Buthpitiya
@vindi-b.bsky.social
· Oct 12
A Volatile Picture
uwapress.uw.edu
my book (!) ‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ encompassing a decade of research on Tamil photographic practices set against a backdrop of ethno/nationalist conflict & the island’s turbulent post/war out Spring 26 uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
wrote about Trincomalee's long history of occupations not long ago. Relevant given the current discourse on the state's insidious, colonially-rooted practice of archaeological claim-making everydayphotography.org/journal/stud...
Studio East: Everyday Photography and the Militarisation of Leisure in Trincomalee - Eidolon Journal
by Vindhya Buthpitiya This essay by Vindhya Buthpitiya is the result of her research supported by the inaugural Eidolon Grant, awarded in 2024. Studio East: Everyday Photography and the Militarisation...
everydayphotography.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
wrote about Trincomalee's long history of occupations not long ago. Relevant given the current discourse on the state's insidious, colonially-rooted practice of archaeological claim-making everydayphotography.org/journal/stud...
‘Picturing the Disappeared,’ which is focused on the protests of the Tamil families of the disappeared in Sri Lanka, making up ‘Images rémanentes de la disparition forcée’ at the Mural Alexei Jaccard-Droits Humains, Geneva will be on view until 15th February 2026 www.unige.ch/cite/eveneme...
November 13, 2025 at 1:57 PM
‘Picturing the Disappeared,’ which is focused on the protests of the Tamil families of the disappeared in Sri Lanka, making up ‘Images rémanentes de la disparition forcée’ at the Mural Alexei Jaccard-Droits Humains, Geneva will be on view until 15th February 2026 www.unige.ch/cite/eveneme...
surprising no one who has been living with the stress of this mess every time they need to verify ID. | Home Office eVisa failures leave thousands 'unable to work or leave UK' inews.co.uk/news/home-of...
Home Office eVisa failures leave thousands 'unable to work or leave UK'
Foreign nationals have been wrongly charged for NHS treatment and incorrectly told they have been given refugee status, according to campaigners
inews.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
surprising no one who has been living with the stress of this mess every time they need to verify ID. | Home Office eVisa failures leave thousands 'unable to work or leave UK' inews.co.uk/news/home-of...
Enforced Disappearances, Civil Resistance and the Rule of Law - this Wednesday in Geneva
November 10, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Enforced Disappearances, Civil Resistance and the Rule of Law - this Wednesday in Geneva
(Universities cutting literature programmes) are robbing future generations of the capacity to determine what constitutes “good” art, take pleasure in it, and create their own—thereby leaving it to the elite, and to machines owned by the elite, to decide for them lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.
lareviewofbooks.org
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
(Universities cutting literature programmes) are robbing future generations of the capacity to determine what constitutes “good” art, take pleasure in it, and create their own—thereby leaving it to the elite, and to machines owned by the elite, to decide for them lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
excited to get started on this one in time for Halloween 🎃
October 29, 2025 at 6:35 PM
excited to get started on this one in time for Halloween 🎃
More mass graves at Chemmani and Sri Lanka’s old failures of justice: an observer of the 1999 Chemmani exhumations reflects on newly uncovered mass graves & Sri Lanka’s continued failure to deliver justice for Tamil victims of war-time crimes www.himalmag.com/politics/sri...
More mass graves at Chemmani and Sri Lanka’s old failures of justice
IN FEBRUARY this year, I could hardly believe it when I heard that more bodies had been discovered during construction work near Chemmani, in Jaffna district in
www.himalmag.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:48 PM
More mass graves at Chemmani and Sri Lanka’s old failures of justice: an observer of the 1999 Chemmani exhumations reflects on newly uncovered mass graves & Sri Lanka’s continued failure to deliver justice for Tamil victims of war-time crimes www.himalmag.com/politics/sri...
I see that anthropology has returned to some truly wtf writing on war.
October 22, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I see that anthropology has returned to some truly wtf writing on war.
it's end times all round isn't it? | Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
it's end times all round isn't it? | Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
do people in the global north realise just how much they actively obstruct the movement/mobility of those from the global south? At least stop downplaying/pleading ignorance about what your governments demand of us for trying to live, work & travel like the rest of you get to do.
October 21, 2025 at 10:13 AM
do people in the global north realise just how much they actively obstruct the movement/mobility of those from the global south? At least stop downplaying/pleading ignorance about what your governments demand of us for trying to live, work & travel like the rest of you get to do.
my book (!) ‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ encompassing a decade of research on Tamil photographic practices set against a backdrop of ethno/nationalist conflict & the island’s turbulent post/war out Spring 26 uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
A Volatile Picture
uwapress.uw.edu
October 12, 2025 at 9:07 AM
my book (!) ‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ encompassing a decade of research on Tamil photographic practices set against a backdrop of ethno/nationalist conflict & the island’s turbulent post/war out Spring 26 uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
The growing dangers of Sri Lanka’s Israel nexus: Pro-Israel groups & Buddhist extremists are expanding Israeli influence in Sri Lanka, stoking anti-Muslim sentiment as the government maintains ambivalence around Palestine and the Gaza genocide www.himalmag.com/politics/sri... @himalmag.bsky.social
The growing dangers of Sri Lanka’s Israel nexus
MOHAMED SUHAIL, a 21-year-old student, was searching for lodgings in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwala on 23 October 2024 when a mobile police unit arrested him ne
www.himalmag.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:02 PM
The growing dangers of Sri Lanka’s Israel nexus: Pro-Israel groups & Buddhist extremists are expanding Israeli influence in Sri Lanka, stoking anti-Muslim sentiment as the government maintains ambivalence around Palestine and the Gaza genocide www.himalmag.com/politics/sri... @himalmag.bsky.social
🙃 Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office
Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
🙃 Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
'Images rémanentes de la disparition forcée' feauturing a video adaptation of my 2022 article (rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....) on the political uses of photography by the Tamil Families of the Disappeared in Northern Sri Lanka opens in Geneva this evening www.unige.ch/cite/eveneme...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 18, 2025 at 12:15 PM
'Images rémanentes de la disparition forcée' feauturing a video adaptation of my 2022 article (rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....) on the political uses of photography by the Tamil Families of the Disappeared in Northern Sri Lanka opens in Geneva this evening www.unige.ch/cite/eveneme...
Far-right London rally sees record crowds and violent clashes with police: More than 110,000 people join Tommy Robinson-organised protest featuring racist conspiracy theories and hate speech www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Police assaulted as far-right rally led by Tommy Robinson sparks clashes
More than 110,000 people join Tommy Robinson-organised protest featuring racist conspiracy theories and hate speech
www.theguardian.com
September 14, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Far-right London rally sees record crowds and violent clashes with police: More than 110,000 people join Tommy Robinson-organised protest featuring racist conspiracy theories and hate speech www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Vindhya Buthpitiya
@vindi-b.bsky.social on how Trincomalee, a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka, has been shaped through photography everydayphotography.org/journal/stud...
Studio East: Everyday Photography and the Militarisation of Leisure in Trincomalee - Eidolon Journal
by Vindhya Buthpitiya This essay by Vindhya Buthpitiya is the result of her research supported by the inaugural Eidolon Grant, awarded in 2024. Studio East: Everyday Photography and the Militarisation...
everydayphotography.org
September 8, 2025 at 1:10 PM
@vindi-b.bsky.social on how Trincomalee, a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka, has been shaped through photography everydayphotography.org/journal/stud...
v happy to be working on new projects, in ‘new’ island places, fortutiously intersecting in one of my favourite towns, Trincomalee: on the conflated histories/present of militarisation & leisure in Ceylon/Sri Lanka + the making of place through photography everydayphotography.org/journal/stud...
Studio East: Everyday Photography and the Militarisation of Leisure in Trincomalee - Eidolon Journal
by Vindhya Buthpitiya This essay by Vindhya Buthpitiya is the result of her research supported by the inaugural Eidolon Grant, awarded in 2024. Studio East: Everyday Photography and the Militarisation...
everydayphotography.org
September 8, 2025 at 5:09 PM
v happy to be working on new projects, in ‘new’ island places, fortutiously intersecting in one of my favourite towns, Trincomalee: on the conflated histories/present of militarisation & leisure in Ceylon/Sri Lanka + the making of place through photography everydayphotography.org/journal/stud...
delighted to have received a print copy of fLIP’s ‘imperfect issue’ feat my review of Sabes Sugunasabesan’s haunting exhibition ‘kunkumam’ www.londonphotography.org.uk/upcoming/fli...
September 1, 2025 at 2:02 PM
delighted to have received a print copy of fLIP’s ‘imperfect issue’ feat my review of Sabes Sugunasabesan’s haunting exhibition ‘kunkumam’ www.londonphotography.org.uk/upcoming/fli...
"After my father & the others were killed by Sinhala prisoners, the government deliberately hid that crime. How did they die? How were they cremated? Where were they buried? They didn't say anything. We are still in shock, even today" lankaleader.lk/news/15200-t... #SriLanka #BlackJuly
The burial site of Kuttimani and the group killed in the 83 Welikada prison massacre revealed
Over the past few years, Sri Lanka has witnessed multiple discoveries of several new mass graves. Hundreds of human remains are being excavated from these mass burial sites, and su...
lankaleader.lk
August 31, 2025 at 1:31 PM
"After my father & the others were killed by Sinhala prisoners, the government deliberately hid that crime. How did they die? How were they cremated? Where were they buried? They didn't say anything. We are still in shock, even today" lankaleader.lk/news/15200-t... #SriLanka #BlackJuly
😍 Kovilpatti: the Town that Papered India - In the mid-20th century, the heyday of printed imagery in India, a group of artists in a tiny town in southern Tamilnadu became a creative force (that defined print/visual culture) www.tasveergharindia.net/essay/kovilp...
Kovilpatti: the Town that Papered India
www.tasveergharindia.net
August 30, 2025 at 2:10 PM
😍 Kovilpatti: the Town that Papered India - In the mid-20th century, the heyday of printed imagery in India, a group of artists in a tiny town in southern Tamilnadu became a creative force (that defined print/visual culture) www.tasveergharindia.net/essay/kovilp...
sanctioned former Sri Lankan navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda’s memoir published by Penguin India contains potential admissions relevant to alleged crimes committed during the civil war www.himalmag.com/politics/kar... damning, important review @himalmag.bsky.social #SriLanka
https://himalmag.com/politics/karan…
August 27, 2025 at 12:35 PM
sanctioned former Sri Lankan navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda’s memoir published by Penguin India contains potential admissions relevant to alleged crimes committed during the civil war www.himalmag.com/politics/kar... damning, important review @himalmag.bsky.social #SriLanka
Arundhati Roy on her fugitive childhood: ‘My knees were full of scars and cuts – a sign of my wild, imperfect, fatherless life’
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Arundhati Roy on her fugitive childhood: ‘My knees were full of scars and cuts – a sign of my wild, imperfect, fatherless life’
When war broke out between India and China, the author and her brother were taken by their mother on a chaotic journey from hill station squat to an eccentric household in Kerala. Would they ever find...
www.theguardian.com
August 26, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Arundhati Roy on her fugitive childhood: ‘My knees were full of scars and cuts – a sign of my wild, imperfect, fatherless life’
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
Former Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested: Police say the former leader is accused of misuse of public funds in relation to a trip to London. www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/...
Former Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested
Police say the former leader is accused of misuse of public funds in relation to a trip to London.
www.aljazeera.com
August 22, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Former Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested: Police say the former leader is accused of misuse of public funds in relation to a trip to London. www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/...
Reposted by Vindhya Buthpitiya
Thursday (21) marks the 12th day since excavations recommenced at the Colombo port mass burial site where over 85 bodies, haphazardly buried without clothes, were unearthed. The site was first found in July 2023 during construction work for the Port City Expressway entrance.
August 21, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Thursday (21) marks the 12th day since excavations recommenced at the Colombo port mass burial site where over 85 bodies, haphazardly buried without clothes, were unearthed. The site was first found in July 2023 during construction work for the Port City Expressway entrance.