Over a decade after the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka continues to face tensions along ethno-linguistic and religious fault lines. Finding constructive ways of dealing with the past and addressing root causes of conflict hence remains crucial to reconciliation and sustainable peace in the country.
In order to contribute to this endeavour, the project Strengthening Reconciliation Processes in Sri Lanka (SRP), co-financed by the German Federal Foreign Office and the European Union and implemented by GIZ together with the British Council, has developed a traveling history museum titled ‘It’s About Time’. The museum provides a space to critically reflect on history and encourages dialogue between different generations as well as ethno-linguistic and religious communities. Before the COVID pandemic forced the touring of the museum to come to a halt, it had taken over 18,000 visitors in four different locations on a journey through different facets of history and memorialisation in Sri Lanka, celebrated the country’s diversity and recognised the role we all play in shaping history.
As more and more peacebuilding efforts were forced to move online due to the pandemic, so was ‘It’s About Time’. A virtual variant of the museum was developed in cooperation with the Institute for Museum Research (IfM) in Berlin and launched mid-February. It now enables audiences to experience different exhibits in the virtual space, while trying to keep the interactive and ever-evolving nature of the museum alive – ‘It’s About Time’ wants its visitors to give feedback, to engage in the conversation about past and present, and explicitly asks for contributions to be incorporated in the future.
Who writes our history? Do every day people’s stories matter? What is our role in creating history? Explore these questions, join the conversation and be part of the journey on www.itsabouttime.lk.
