Slave island building
Situated on Sir Justice Akbar Mawatha, in the district known as Slave Island, is a long building from the British colonial period. It is in a poor state of repair with broken windows, rusting drainpipes, missing roof tiles and with clumps of grass and plants clinging to roof guttering and wall crannies. It is a terrace of individual businesses, clothed in a clamourous array of colours emblazoned with signboards canopies and posters, each competing with its neighbour for attention from the bustling life of the street below.
I am attracted to its formal neo-classical symmetry which forms a regular framework upon which is imposed the ragbag of colour, signage and flurry of passing figures; and have made ten paintings of various sections including two commissions.
I am attracted to its formal neo-classical symmetry which forms a regular framework upon which is imposed the ragbag of colour, signage and flurry of passing figures; and have made ten paintings of various sections including two commissions.
Universal Travels, Sir Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Hopes and Dreams, Sir Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Sir Justice Akbar Mawatha
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New Haris Tailors, Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Stick No Bills, Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Sporting Special, Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Agency Post Office, Sir Justice Akbar Mawatha
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Pettah
The district of Pettah is very like a village within the heart of a city. Having its own distinctive character it is a network of busy streets, crammed with traffic below and signboards above clamouring for the attention of the passing trade. In addition to shops of every kind and market stalls overflowing with produce it has a Mosque, a Hindu temple, and a delightful little Christian orrery, and its own Town Hall all packed in a half square mile to the east of central Colombo and bordering on the port area.
To the left of the painting entitled Gold is Sea Street which reaches down to the port; apart from a cafe and a couple of other shops, every business in the street is a gold dealer.
To the left of the painting entitled Gold is Sea Street which reaches down to the port; apart from a cafe and a couple of other shops, every business in the street is a gold dealer.
Gold
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Surface Colours
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railway stations
The railways, built during the British Colonial period, still thread their way through the country, serving the coastal resorts and the high tea country towns and villages.
