Published on January 13, 2006

The experiences and emotions of tsunami survivors are revealed through a series of powerful images

With international aid still arriving in tsunami-devastated areas, it seems there may be light at the end of the tunnel for those living along the coastlines of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.

But this can be deceptive. A new house can be no substitute for a dead husband, wife or child.

A long-term remedy is necessary and this is the message behind the “Every Time I See the Sea… Life After Tsunami” exhibition, which is now on tour of Great Britain after a successful showing at London’s Dray Walk Gallery.

Based on three British artists’ different perceptions of devastation in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia (Thailand is not featured due to limited resources), “Life” showcases photographs by Tim Hetherington, sculpture by Emma Summers and black-and-white images of the missing in Indonesia collected by photographer Jonathan Perugia.

Far from serving as a reminder of the much-chronicled disaster, the exhibition takes a creative approach to documenting how the survivors have emerged from the catastrophe and are getting on with their lives despite acute emotional trauma.

An award-winning lensman from Liverpool (a Hasselblad grant in 2002 and two World Press Photo prizes in 1999 and 2001), Hetherington has used his camera to capture the scale of destruction at the individual level as well as the attempt to rebuild life.

His images are based on the relationship between people and the sea before and after the devastation of the giant waves.

“They lived by it, they needed it and used it. When the tsunami came, it challenged this relationship,” he says. When the tsunami struck, Hetherington, who is also a documentary filmmaker, was in Britain, following the unfolding of the catastrophe on television.

“I knew there was general confusion. As the scale of destruction became obvious, I realised that this was a huge event.”

Shortly afterwards he flew to Banda Aceh on a different assignment. Then last August he was commissioned by Christian Aid to document life after the tsunami in Sri Lanka and India, travelling with a writer to different devastated coastal areas.

Hetherington has witnessed many emergency situations throughout his career and says this was one of the greatest. But he admits that not experiencing the tsunami first hand made it more difficult for him to describe the disaster.

“Shocking was not a word I could use because I wasn’t in a house that was being swept away by the waves. What really moved me was the level of trauma experienced by the people, especially in Jafna, Sri Lanka. “Jafna had suffered so much already from the ravages of civil war. On top of that they had to face the losses from the tsunami.”

Arriving on the scene of an aid project eight months after the disaster, Hetherington expected to see some alleviation in the suffering. But while material needs were being adequately met, he was struck by the lack of hope among some of the survivors. He describes his encounter with a mother of five who lost all her children to the waves and with others whose entire families disappeared that fateful morning.

“For some people I don’t know whether hope matters. Yes, there were people who now had the means to survive and get on with their lives. But on a personal level, I believe that hope is the hardest thing to find if you are a mother of five who’s lost all your children.”

Yet he was amazed at how warmly he was welcomed during his trips and how the survivors gave him space and time to contemplate the meaning of what happened.

Hetherington’s photographs are compelling and moving, tinged with an underlying message. His pictures make it easier to understand how differently adults and children are reacting to the catastrophe.

Some of the photographs show children happily playing games. These youngsters had to be taught how to play again by support groups, because they’d stopped since the tsunami struck, Hetherington explains.

One of his most striking photographs – “Girl with Mask” – is the portrait of nine-year-old Sivaranjini Ponnaiya Sinna Karuippan, a native of Katkovalam village in northern Sri Lanka. She’s wearing a mask of sorrow as part of a drama group run by the Active Theatre Movement, a community organisation supported by Christian Aid. Most of her friends died that Sunday morning when they ran to look at the receding sea. Hetherington explains that drama helps survivors express their grief and enables children to play again.

“I was interested in the idea of drama, of theatre, of how trauma is hidden deep within people. I have worked before in areas of conflict and I can see how deeply traumatised people don’t necessarily show it. The longer the conflict, the deeper the trauma. So the mask is a way of people giving you one face when really there is another face behind it.”

“Girls at the Seashore” depicts a group of Muslim girls, almost a year after the tsunami, frolicking on the beach in Colombo – an optimistic sign of recovery.

In contrast, “A Graveyard at Sunset” shows a cemetery in Mankatkadu, in the north of the island. Seventy-three people are buried here, most of them children and the sounds of weeping still resonate through the villages today.

The adults face life as best they can. Some busy themselves with preparing to live without aid. Those with new houses steel themselves to face a future as widows, single parents and childless couples.

“Apart from destroying and killing, the tragedy ripped apart the rhythm of life in communities. It broke the way of life, economy, jobs, shops, and schools. The fact that it destroyed the rhythm of life is a tragic thing,” Hetherington adds.

For more information about the exhibition visit www.christianaid.org.uk/tsunami.

Manote Tripathi

The Nation

LONDON

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