Vindhya Buthpitiya, "A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka" (U Washington Press, 2026)
About this episode
The episode features Dr. Vindhya Buthpitiya discussing her book on the role of photography in the Tamil political landscape during and after the Sri Lankan civil war.
A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka (U Washington Press, 2026) by Dr. Vindhya Buthpitiya is a groundbreaking ethnography that explores how, in the context of Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war and its turbulent aftermath, photography has become bound to the Tamil political imagination. From state-commissioned images meant to surveil and rebel documentation of armed resistance, to the fragile memorials created from identity photographs of the disappeared, A Volatile Picture traces the making and moving of images across borders, communities, and generations. Studio portraits, passport pictures, family albums, atrocity photography, social media posts, and more act not only as records of loss and horror but also as vital tools for protest, solidarity, and the realization of alternate political futures. Drawing on transnational archival and ethnographic encounters and long-term fieldwork in northern Sri Lanka, Dr. Buthpitiya situates photography as both a volatile medium and a political practice. Photographs emerge here as incendiary agents—simultaneously evidencing and triggering violence, sustaining memory, and inciting new visions of…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Guest: Vindhya Buthpitiya
Topics covered
- photography
- civil war
- political imagination
- Tamil identity
- ethnography
- visual culture
- memory and protest
Keywords
- Sri Lanka
- Tamil
- photography
- civil war
- ethnography
- political practice
- visual culture
- memory
- protest
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: U Washington Press
Books & works: A Volatile Picture
Places: Sri Lanka, northern Sri Lanka
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