Cinnamon peelers

As Dr Colvin R de Silva, historian, writer, constitutional law expert and politician in his “Ceylon under the British Occupation, Volume 1, 1795~1833, Political and Administrative Development)” put it - “If the vagaries of the wind brought the Portuguese to Ceylon, lure of cinnamon made them stay in the island”. From the early part of second millennium Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was not only the major source of cinnamon to Europe but also the exclusive source of its most pure form, the Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) being termed true cinnamon as opposed to what arrived from the south eastern lands. The European colonial domination of Sri Lanka had been closely linked with the cinnamon trade. The labour involved in the cinnamon harvesting and processing has been caste based from the time of the ancient kingdoms of Sri Lanka, through the colonial occupation up to the present day. The trials and tribulations of these peoples over the centuries have been completely eclipsed by the exotic aura of cinnamon. Today they struggle on amidst labour exploitation directly related to international trade. My project documents the lives of the cinnamon people, a community of people who are directly linked to a produce, which attracted foreign invasions and to date subject to economic exploitation. Yet, this community of people contributes to making Sri Lanka the largest cinnamon exporter in the world, accounting for 90% of world trade of true cinnamon. The project seeks to spotlight the lives of the cinnamon people, a community harshly subjugated from colonial times due to their bondage to an exotic spice and continuing their toil to date under its shadow. This is an area, which has never been systematically explored or recorded in any form of visual documentation.

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Keywords cinnamon ceylon sri lanka