‘The Monk and the Peasant:’ An homage to Singhalese culture

Culture, religion and tradition—once the backbone of everyday life— are inevitably put in the background if not forgotten, as commercialization and globalization become the leading factor of human existence.

In the midst of the global population living fast-paced lives where snapped photographs of even the most mundane of things are shared to a vast audience over social media, Tilak Hettige, a Manila-based Sri Lankan-born photographer and book author gives a nostalgic glimpse of that time when culture, religion and tradition were the central cogitation of everyday living.

In his coffee table book titled The Monk and the Peasant launched early this month, Hettige takes his readers to a visual journey through the last few existing traditional Singhalese villages where community life is still deeply ingrained in religious and traditional practices.

The Monk and the Peasant is a beautiful step back from today’s fast-paced modern global culture, paying homage to Singhalese culture and tradition that somehow is parallel to other customs in the world, including Filipino culture.

“Many Filipinos and Sri Lankans who have been living in the Philippines do not know about the background of all these things,” Hettige told The Manila Timesat the sidelines of the book launch in Makati last week.