The Vanni is a multi media, interactive comic book about conflict and migration focusing on Sri Lanka.
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Benjamin Dix and Lindsay Pollock Creator!Backed 0 projects · London, United Kingdom · Joined October 2012
The Vanni is supported by: Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize Winner, God of Small Things), Jon Snow (Newscaster, Channel 4), Frances Harrison (BBC and Author, Still Counting the Dead), Callum Macrae (Film Maker, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields), Vairamuttu Varadakumar (Executive Secretary, Tamil Information Centre), Liv Torres (Secretary General, Norwegian People's Aid), Roma Tearne (Author, The Road to Urbino) Beate Arnestad(Filmmaker, My Daughter the Terrorist) and is being produced with the involvement of a number of survivors of the conflict.
In 2009, the civil war fought between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam reached a brutal climax.
In the North East of the island, on a spit of sandy beach, over 300,000 Tamil civilians were caught between the opposing sides.
In one of the most brutal counter-insurgency operations ever mounted, at least 40,000 civilians were killed. The exact number of dead may never be known.
My name is Benjamin Dix and I arrived in Vanni, in northern Sri Lanka, three days after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Employed by Norwegian People's Aid and then the United Nations, I worked on reconstruction projects with international staff and Tamil nationals for the next four years.
After the election of the nationalist Sinhalese president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the peace process broke down. The fighting escalated from bloody skirmishes and bomb attacks to all-out war.
In 2008, the government ordered the UN to leave the Vanni, stating they could no longer guarantee our safety. Without impartial international witness, the war escalated rapidly.
Three hundred thousand people were forced to flee their homes. They were herded towards government-declared 'No Fire Zones'. But in densely packed, supposedly safe areas, they were continually shelled for the next six months. 
Before the fighting even finished, there were many competing narratives about what exactly happened and who bore responsibility. A fog of accusations and contradictions stifled a broad, public understanding of what occurred in 2009.
Conveniently for certain parties, there seemed to be no concrete facts. The people with most to reveal about the war were the civilians who were forced through it. But their stories have largely been lost. Thousands of Tamils have fled Sri Lanka, seeking asylum in safer parts of the world, often forced to leave families behind. Inside Sri Lanka and out, many Tamils do not feel safe to reveal their experiences, fearing reprisals against themselves or their loved ones.
I am now working on a project that I hope will illuminate for a wide audience the experiences of ordinary Sri Lankan Tamils.
Working with illustrator Lindsay Pollock, I am writing an online graphic novel which tells the story of a fictional but representative Tamil family between 2005 and 2012.
The Vanni tells the story of Antoni & Rajini, their children Michael and Theepa, Rajini's younger sister Priya and Antoni's mother Apamma - and their dog Rocky.
The story is constructed from survivor testimonies. Every significant event in the novel, from bomb attacks to internment to the isolation of asylum seeking, is an event that occurred to Tamil civilians in reality during the war and after.
The story is constructed from survivor testimonies. Every significant event in the novel, from bomb attacks to internment to the isolation of asylum seeking, is an event that occurred to Tamil civilians in reality during the war and after.
Illustration showing the atrocities in the battle zone
From a refugee camp in 2005, when the family hope to rebuild their lives after the tsunami... to the despair of 2007 when they had to flee the fighting and leave the coast… to the atrocities endured on the tiny spit of beach where the fighting reached its climax.
From a refugee camp in 2005, when the family hope to rebuild their lives after the tsunami... to the despair of 2007 when they had to flee the fighting and leave the coast… to the atrocities endured on the tiny spit of beach where the fighting reached its climax.
The graphic novel will depict the horrors inflicted on ordinarily families, as reported anonymously by survivors themselves. We'll be working from first-hand accounts and in consultation with survivors of the fighting.
The story is told from Antoni's perspective in 2012, now an asylum seeker in London reflecting on the preceding six years of his life. The reflections are in the form of conversations with his asylum lawyer, Nina… via Skype with Rajini in Chennai, where she lives in the purgatory faced by a refugee… and in his troubled dream states where his post-traumatic stress plays out night after night.
Besides telling a compelling story, the book will provide resources for the reader to find out more about the war in Sri Lanka, and related topics of conflict, terrorism, forced migration and asylum.
Presented on the internet, the novel is augmented with photographs and video from the ground. There will also be maps, statistics, links and quotes embedded behind the illustrations. This reference material, sourced from organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, and various NGOs will open channels for the reader to explore a variety of issues as deeply as they wish. Additionally, statements from the Government of Sri Lanka and Tamil media will be included, allowing the reader to independently weigh the conflicting voices against one another.
The book is being written with great consideration to impartiality. This narrative is constructed from the lived-experiences of ordinary people; not the rhetoric of political leaders.
We have been working on "The Vanni" for a year, entirely self-funded. In that time, we have traveled to South Asia to gather visual reference material, photographing flora and fauna, landscapes, typical Tamil villages, fishing communities and buildings. We have spoken with Tamil survivors, asylum lawyers, and experts at a variety of organisations.
We have employed computer programmers to develop the website, filling it with useful resources, multimedia and a primer on the conflict in Sri Lanka. And we have written & drawn a 20 page preview of the book.
Chapter by chapter, we intend to make the entire book available for free, so this story can reach as many people as possible.
Work so far has cost in the region of £10,000. The entire project will unfold over approximately two years. But we can no longer afford to fund the comic ourselves. That's why we're asking for your help.
Every penny donated will help us produce the book to the highest possible standard. If you care to donate a little more, we'll show our gratitude with exclusive gifts for higher contributors.
Despite the terrible bloodshed which unfolded across its fields and beaches, the Vanni is a stunningly beautiful part of the world. Many of the photos featured in this film are my own, taken during my time in Sri Lanka. Higher contributors will receive limited-edition prints. We're also providing original artwork and even the chance to be featured in the background of one of the London scenes - and then receive the original page to keep. For details of the funding brackets, please see the information below.
In every crowded capital of the world, thousands of asylum seekers are totally anonymous. This book will introduce the reader to one such man - Antoni - showing the path which led him to his strange new life, alone on the fringe of an unfamiliar society. A good husband, father and son, who shoulders the guilt of the survivor, and the memories of the lost; a man who misses his family terribly, and waits for the slow cogs of obscure law to turn; a man whose last hope is to be allowed to start a new life, in a strange place, when all he wants is to be home, on his beach, fishing.
Thank you so much for considering this project.
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