- Firi Rahman of ‘We Are From Here’ on documenting the world as we see it for future generations
The last few weeks have seen a spotlight turned on the struggle between Sri Lanka’s heritage and the progress of modernisation. The demolition of the de Soysa building in Slave Island at the end of August brooked a lot of discussion on the subject.
Nearly 200 years old, the “de Soysa” building was a landmark of Slave Island, located on one of its busiest roads. It painted a picture of what Slave Island and Colombo used to be and the heritage of the city. Its demolition, despite opposition from the Department of Archaeology, protests from its tenants, and public outcry, paints a very powerful picture of the struggle of modernisation versus heritage.
At the same time, there was public outcry about the proposed construction of a jogging track around a section of Parakrama Samudraya, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest, largest manmade lakes and irrigation systems. After significant public opposition, plans for this proposed jogging track were halted, and, for now at least, one of our ancient landmarks seems safe from the trials of modernisation.
But this does beg the question of when to modernise and what parts of our heritage to give up to modernisation; and what about recording that history before it is lost? The de Soysa building, for example, was not the first building in Slave Island to be demolished to make room for more modern development, and it will not be the last. This is true all over Colombo as well as all over Sri Lanka. Our most powerful visual memories of the de Soysa building now lie in the work of artist Firi Rahman and his interactive visual art project “We Are From Here”.
A resident of Slave Island himself, Firi has been documenting the changing face of Slave Island, capturing the spirit and stories of a place that is fast changing and disappearing, being swallowed up by the rapid modernisation of Colombo. With Firi’s work through We Are From Here serving as a visual representation of Slave Island as our generation knows it, Brunch sat down with Firi to learn more about how artists and creatives can contribute to preserving the bits of our history that are so often lost to urbanisation.
What the ‘We Are From Here’ project does
We Are From Here first began in 2015 as a very basic personal project of Firi’s. “I started to collect everything I could about the neighbourhood, taking pictures, collecting oral histories from residents, and stuff like that. And I started marking the landscape and how the landscape was changing,” he explained. “When I first started documenting, I wasn’t doing it in a way that was thinking of the future, but then I started to notice the kind of changes happening in the neighbourhood and decided to do something art-based to bring more awareness to the neighbourhood and talk about its rich history and heritage.”
Part of what Firi also wanted to do was change people’s perception of Slave Island, which has a reputation of being dangerous. But for Firi, it was home, and it was looking to change people’s mindsets that led him to start creating murals around Slave Island, talking to neighbours and locals, and painting their portraits and capturing their stories as well. As a Slave Island resident, Firi realised he had the power to be able to capture the intricacies of Slave Island in a way that he wouldn’t be able to capture another location because he knew the problems and challenges that Slave Island faced.
“As a local, it was much easier because I have a better understanding of the neighbourhood, and to quote Asha de Vos, ‘we all need local heroes’,” he shared.
Another aspect of preserving history that Firi engaged in with We Are From Here was guided walks around Slave Island. “In Sri Lanka, we don’t have a big art scene,” Firi shared. “We have galleries, but we don’t have a dedicated space for street art and to discuss questions like how people use and reclaim public spaces. I wanted to start these discussions and I started doing neighbourhood walks with small groups of up to eight people (I wanted to keep it limited) to speak about the people and the neighbourhood.”
The year 2018 saw We Are From Here take off more formally, with Firi collaborating with artists Parilojithan Ramanathan and Vicky Shahjahan to make the project more interactive, and also to add perspectives to We Are From Here. Parilojithan, for example, Firi explained, is from Batticaloa, so his perspective on Slave Island as an outsider also provided a new layer of depth to We Are From Here.
The demolition of the de Soysa building
Speaking about the demolition of the iconic de Soysa building, Firi explained that it was very upsetting to see the building be demolished. “I’ve actually stopped going to that area since the building was demolished,” Firi said, adding that he had worked closely with the residents of the de Soysa building, and even visited the site when it was being finally demolished and had witnessed officials from the Urban Development Authority (UDA) being very disrespectful to the locals to the point where it made him feel like a stranger in his own neighbourhood.
“You really feel like a stranger, and this is what really scared me, because I don’t want to walk into my own neighbourhood and feel like a stranger,” Firi said, noting that since the building’s demolition, he has avoided discussing the subject because he didn’t want to contribute to the hype around an issue that is now too late to solve.
With Firi’s documentation of the de Soysa building through We Are From here now being one of the few surviving visual representations of the de Soysa building, Firi shared that he is glad the pictures remain for future generations to see. He also shared that he is helping one of his friends put together a documentary on the de Soysa building – something that was endlessly complicated by both the lockdowns and the constantly evolving situation with the building itself.
The role of artists in helping preserve histories
Through his art, Firi has played a powerful role in recording the history of Slave Island at a very fluid moment in its history. The face of Slave Island today is not what it was five years ago, and even further removed from the face it will be five years from now. We Are From Here’s story shows how creatives can help preserve our history for future generations to understand what came before them: To give them the chance to visualise a Slave Island that once was, through the eyes of the people who lived and worked there.
This unique viewpoint of archiving history through art is not something that Firi feels many artists pay attention to. “Photographers and architects do capture history for their study purposes. I have seen many students visit the de Soysa building, but it’s mostly for their academic practice, not to archive it. Very few people, artists or otherwise, archive and document it in a way for future generations to see.”
And this is not just for Slave Island or Colombo, Firi noted, adding that this is across the board, sharing that he often asks students from places like Jaffna why they don’t consider starting something like We Are From Here to capture the heritage of Jaffna – a place where there are so many beautiful heritage spaces that are at risk of being lost. “It doesn’t have to be proper history or drawings; it could be an oral history or sharing interesting facts, something that shows an important space or building and gives that experience to people.”
With the question of modernisation versus heritage fresh in our minds, Firi shared that it is natural that we as a country develop and modernise, but it is important that we be cautious about what parts of our heritage we compromise for this development, especially when it comes to architecture and public spaces. “It’s not very clear right now; they’re very selective about what they want to preserve and what they don’t. I recently did a podcast talking about this kind of thing as well. We need development, but we also need to respect our heritage and keep something future generations can learn from. It’s very sad that we don’t really see leaders bothering about preserving heritage buildings.”
From the perspective of Slave Island, Firi explained that now with the de Soysa building gone, he is worried about some of the other buildings and homes in the area being demolished and their historical importance lost, ironically, to history. “The de Soysa building became a highlighted topic because it has visibility, but there are so many other little houses and spaces that are also disappearing,” he said, adding that as artists and citizens, there is so much capability they have to be able to preserve such buildings.
One particular concern Firi shared was the flyover project which comes very close to the Slave Island Railway Station, potentially putting this building at risk of demolition. “There should be some sort of law in place to protect buildings like this, even private homes,” Firi said, adding that when it came to the de Soysa building issue, Singapore was cited as an example of a sustainable balance between heritage architecture and modernisation, but he has his doubts about emulating the Singaporean cultural preservation model. “I like the idea of preserving the building to be something exotic, but at the same time, is it for the locals of that area or for an outsider when you change a building into a coffee shop kind of setup?”
For Firi, some good examples of heritage development include the Fort area and Grand Oriental Hotel, where the buildings have been preserved and are still actively used by the people around them as they were initially intended to be used, noting that a potential model to follow would be that of the UK, where buildings’ histories are taken into account whenever development occurs and heritage buildings are to be worked around and adapted instead of demolished.
We Are From Here and how they hope to keep preserving history
While Firi’s passion for preserving history through We Are From Here, both that of Slave Island and beyond, is unmatched, the pandemic has been a huge obstacle, leaving Firi unable to conduct walks and even go out to meet with people and collect oral histories. “The public walks stopped, and when the lockdown was lifted, we did a few walks for educational purposes with architecture students, visiting historians, and similar. We began focusing more on collecting the stories of local people, but even that became challenging with travel restrictions and further lockdowns because we couldn’t go out to record.”
Firi did share that We Are From Here is working on a visual exhibit for Colomboscope, which takes place in January 2022, and that he will be working on this once this latest lockdown is lifted.
