Can Divit : "Erkenci Kus"/Early Bird

Can Divit, Jul 2009-Jan 2019: "Moon Embracing the Sun"

Can Divit: July 2009

I had not seen my boarding school bestie Velu in a few years, last was when we graduated high school and went our separate ways to college.  Akif and Metin live in Istanbul and it's the good old times when I see them, which is very often as we work together.  Velu had moved back to Sri Lanka to be with his family as the Tamil conflict and civil war was drawing to a close and it was safer for him to return.  He was the one closest to me in school and he had the most displaced life, more so than any of us.  The Internet has made it easy for us of stay connected..... but I do miss him terribly!

He was the most supportive and encouraging of my creative pursuits, had great feedback for my past and present  sketches and the one key aspect he noticed was that I was, still am, impatient to finish one and eager to start another, the next thing. I'm always shifting goals and switching focus from one thing to another.... and pivoting constantly!    So he was the one who thought my artistic energy will be gratified and rewarded with an art form that produces immediate feedback, results and satisfaction : photography.   At 16, his wisdom would have a profound impact on my life!   Them boys pooled their pocket money together to get me my first Nikon.... and the rest as they say, is history!
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I had just graduated college; I've been interning with dad and the agency over the last few years as an apprentice photographer and working on campaigns.  Dad was eager for me to join him full time but I had a quick detour in mind. I've seen photos of Sri Lanka and it's a beautiful country.  It would be great to see Velu as well and so I ask dad's permission for the trip. Over the past few years, our relationship has matured; he's back to the warm and loving father that I knew and adored as a child... and we now banter like friends.  I tower over him in height and size and he tries to forget I'm a grownup who will be ready to leave him, soon!  He begrudgingly agrees to let me go but the condition is that I fund the trip on my own. Sounds Fair!
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I arrive in Colombo in the morning and get on a 3 hour bus ride to Velu's hometown of Puttalam, 150 km north of the city. It's afternoon when I reach the area and hear a lot of commotion and fanfare outside the bus station. As I get down from the bus, I'm searching for that familiar face in the crowd... and I find him!! He's running towards me, eager and his face beaming with a smile, flower garland in hand! We laugh, cry & hug each other in turns.... ahhh, we've missed each other!  It turns out, his entire clan had come to welcome me to their town! It was his turn to play host to me..... and they're such gracious and magnanimous hosts!

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Time stood still between us... and we caught up on each others lives... mine had been pretty sober compared to his life.  He's now a young and upcoming political leader, at 21, of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) party that is proposing and executing a peaceful solution post the civil war between the Sri Lankans and the ethnic Tamils. Wow... my wise friend is the activist and renegade leading the charge for the next generation!

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What I observe for the next few days is heart wrenching - so many children and sibling pairs have been orphaned by the conflict, with parents dead, older siblings taking care of younger ones and in such dire conditions!  They're refugees in their own land.... and struggling to gain access to basic necessities like clean water, a school and a safe home to live!

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Living there a few days in relative comfort and observing them, a fire has been lit inside me! The camera that I brought along with me for tourism now became the instrument of capturing their lives.  Talking and being with Velu always gave me clarity and this was no different! I felt like a new man, a man with a purpose, I'm going to help those that can't help themselves via my creativity and art!  So, impromptu, I start cataloging their life as a photo documentary..... capturing the faces and their stories. The goal was to build awareness about their condition and funnel some much needed funding from within the Sri Lankan government, nearby India and other countries.