Bram Schilling

UNDER THE PALMYRA TREE

Under the palmyra tree documents the scarred and traumatized Tamil community in North- Sri Lanka. Stories of people who are struggling with the psychological and physical aftermath of almost three decades of civil war. An ethnic based war between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) called the “Eelam War”.

The war ended with a lot of force in 2009 and the Sri Lankan government has worked hard to cover up evidence of devastation, committed war crimes and genocide that took place. Since then tourism in South/ Central Sri Lanka is flourishing and tourists are awed at the tropical beauty of the mountains and beaches. Behind this mask lays a different reality were you will find the true face of suffering and suppression among the Tamils.

Today the Sri Lankan Army is stil occupying and controling the Northern region of the Island and for many Tamils it still feels the war never really ended.

Work in progress.

Bram Schilling

Bram Schilling (The Netherlands, 1983) is a commercial, portrait and documentary photographer with a BA in Film and Photographic Arts. He is compelled to find meaning to his profession, doing so by spending as much time and energy on his personal work that consists out of portrait series but also long-term documentary projects like the scarred Tamil community in Sri Lanka.

For him it is very important to tell stories that need to be told to the outside world, covering topics like human rights, mental health, social- and cultural issues.

Based in Amsterdam he finds stories next door as well as on the other side of the world, as long as there is an importance in the story to be told.