Sri Lanka has always had such a special place in my life. I was born and lived in India, but most of my mother’s family lives in Colombo. We spent many summers visiting my family in Colombo on holidays and I remember the smell of fresh crab curries, ocean breezes and a bustling, beautiful, and modern city of Colombo.
I moved to the US when I was 7, but over the past 5 years, I have reconnected to Sri Lanka and I realize it’s such an important part of defining who I am. I have been fortunate enough to go back every year for the past 2 years with my own family now. We have spent the last two Christmas’ in Colombo with my uncle Jey’s family and my other uncles families; my kids got to even meet their 89-year-old great grandmother.
The recent tragic attacks shocked me and made me so angry and upset at all the tragedy that hit so close to home. I think about all the locations the cowardly bombers attacked. My family and I stayed at the Shangri-La and dined at the Table one restaurant daily, had Christmas dinner and New Years at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel and have even enjoyed the rooftop views from the Kingsberry hotel. My late grandfather prayed at St.Anthony's Church and my aunt was actually attending Easter mass at another church which was unaffected by the attacks this weekend.
I feel very fortunate that my entire Colombo family is ok; however, so many others are not, which is why I want to give back and make an impact through my photography. I have set up a collection of my most recent Sri Lankan images which I shot by Cessna this past January. My wife Amrita and I will donate 75% of all sales from any print orders to the Red Cross in Sri Lanka. I will custom make each print here in NYC and can ship worldwide. I urge you to make an impact where you can and my goal is to raise money and get it to the people most affected by these horrific events.
https://www.dineshboaz.com/impact
