Unarchiving Colonial Narratives
Tashiya de Mel
25/10/2025
OVER Journal
#4
2
minutes to read
Article
On new ways to address colonial legacies
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It’s late on a Friday evening in Galle, a town in the south of Sri Lanka. The sun hangs low in the sky as I walk along the ramparts. A group of boys dangle their feet off the edge of the walled fort, deep in conversation. Kites fly above us,
dancing in the humid winds. A peacock calls in the distance. I sit next to the boys and observe as people playfully wet their toes in the ocean below us. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean gently lap against the old walls of the Dutch fort. The lighthouse stands elegantly under a darkening sky. Palm trees sway. There are few things more romantic than a sunset at the Galle Fort...Read the full article in the printed issue. Get OVER Journal 4
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About
Tashiya de Mel
Tashiya de Mel is a photographer, environmental advocate, and communications specialist from Colombo, Sri Lanka, who uses visual storytelling to create narratives that drive social change. Her practice explores the nature and possibilities of documentary image-making and deals with themes such as colonial histories, heritage, family, landscapes, and the climate crisis. Tashiya is driven by a curiosity to forge connections with diverse disciplines such as art, history, and science and find ways of bridging these disciplines through different forms of image-based media. She is the recipient of multiple awards and grants, including the Visura grants for freelance visual journalists in 2023 for her project Great Sandy River and was nominated to the Futures Photography platform in 2025.
Tashiya is alumni of the Photography and Society master’s programme at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague (NL). She is currently based in Colombo, where she works as a freelance visual storyteller, available for assignments.
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