The photo exhibition portrays the death, destruction, grief and hardship of the war contrasting with the images of hope and renewal during the largely peaceful atmosphere of the recent past.

The exhibition showcases local talent. “It is an opportunity to give long-overdue recognition to the work, sometimes in very dangerous circumstances, of some of the finest photojournalists around who are all members of the FCA and who happen to be Sri Lankans,” says CNN Correspondent Kasra Naji who is the President of the FCA.

The exhibition has been sponsored by an array of international and local news organizations as well as two UN agencies. Agence France Press (AFP), ART TV, the financial newsagency Bloomberg, BBC News, CNN, UNHCR and UNICEF have all contributed generously towards the costs of the exhibition.

The exhibition will be held from 1-11 July 2004.

Most of the children in Batticaloa are war-affected. Some of them suffer from nightblindedness, anemia, and water-borne diseases. Four Season’s provide children below the age of 12 years with a source of fresh milk and soup made from local fish and vegetables. With the financial donations from well-wishers, Four Season’s give them soup twice a week and a glass of milk each morning in Alankulam. In Kathiravely, the NGO has taken on 150 children, who are mostly orphaned by the war and are in desperate need of help.

Four Season’s encourages children to attend school. Through the medium of art, the NGO also encourages the children to bring out their innermost feelings. The NGO conducts art exhibitions that showcase the talent of these children. When a work of art is sold, 60 percent of the sale price goes into a bank account for that child. This is a closed bank account and cannot be drawn from before the child reaches 18 years of age.

The NGO also has a project in Seeduwa that includes 70 children.

Four Season’s believes in peace and wants to give peace a chance and the children a chance too.

The Centre has taken “Trojan Kanthavo” (Trojan Women) to Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, and Jaffna and many other towns all over the island. The Centre has been active in drawing the attention of the Tamil people towards Sinhala artistic creations.

After the ceasefire, the Centre organized an award winning Sri Lankan film festival “Cine Yatra” in Jaffna, Batticaloa, Vavuniya and Trincomalee. A series of seminars were also organized along with the festival. The film festival gave the northeast people to watch Sinhala movies, an entertainment that was denied to them for twenty years due to war.

The Centre tries to make an impact on people of all communities through the universal language of art, there by contributing towards the efforts to restore lasting peace in Sri Lanka.

It began in 1995 when Ven. Kalyanatissa visited a refugee camp and a Singhala woman married to a Tamil man placed their one-and-a-half year old child in his care. From then on the numbers grew. The children are orphaned or abandoned, found in refugee camps or handed over by a parent. The occupants of Seth Sevana now range from babies to teenagers.

Assisting Ven Kalyanatissa is his mother, who shoulders a large amount of the work with help from the older boys. NGOs, individuals and groups of people, who learn of the unwavering and humane efforts of this young monk, contribute in whichever way they can towards expenses.

The exhibition, titled 'Displaced Youth Facing the Future', is in keeping with this year's international theme of 'Refugee Youth'. The paintings exhibited are produced by displaced youth from all over Sri Lanka. They depict varied impressions of "home" and highlight the plight of the many young people who are suffering the effects of other people's conflicts.

The exhibition will be on till Friday 27 June.