‘Sense of Melbourne’ at Lionel Wendt on 25-26 January

‘Sense of Melbourne,’ an exhibition of photography by Sandun Gamage and Athula Ranaraja, will be held on 25 and 26 January at the Lionel Wendt. 

The event is to mark Australian Day which falls on 26 January. 

The exhibition, featuring 60 sceneries of Melbourne and suburbs, will be inaugurated by Australian High Commissioner Bryce Hutchesson at 10 a.m. on 25 January.  

Two veteran and famous photojournalists Sandun and Athula have partnered to hold this unique exhibition. “This is the first time when photographs taken in Australia are displayed in Sri Lanka,” they said. 

The two veterans also said that even though there was a professional and educational bond between the two countries, cultural bond is too distant. “The exhibition is an attempt to create that cultural bond artistically,” they added.

The exhibition is sponsored by Jeewa Education and Seya Colour sponsored the photo printing. Hayleys’ Cafe Pixel, Colombo 7 sponsored the photo framing.

The exhibition ‘Sense of Melbourne’ will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on 25 January and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on 26 January. 

Sandun is a renowned photographer and has been a features writer and a photojournalist of Sunday Lankadeepa for over two decades. His maiden photo exhibition ‘Stars and Brides’ was held in 2004 and the second one ‘Sendal my Brides’ in 2014. His third exhibition was held at the Koberg Town Hall in Melbourne, thereby becoming the first Sri Lankan to hold a photo exhibition in Melbourne. In 2016 he held a photo exhibition in Verona in Italy and in December 2016 an exhibition featuring ‘Beauty of Japan’ was held in Colombo. 

Athula is a leading instructor of photography. He is a Diploma holder of photography. His first solo exhibition ‘Blue-Green-Red’ was held in 2004 followed by ‘Single Light’. His third exhibition was held at the BlackCat Gallery in Melbourne in 2016.