The Mal series was created in memory of Eileen Peris, who was the artist’s beloved mother. A wise and attentive lady, his mother was a guiding light in his life and her insights had a profound influence on the aesthetics of his work. Mal is Sinhalese for flowers which his mother admired dearly. Eric captured the purity of the lotus flower in an ethereal atmosphere, enveloped in glistening light akin to the heavenly stars twinkling in the night. Eric Peris is one of the leading fine-art photographers specialising in a poetic divine kind of humanism. He worked first in black-and-white before turning to hand-tinting and other technical ‘deconstructions’ like in his ukiyo-e pictures. He was a photojournalist from 1969 when he joined a magazine called Fanfare and retired as Photo Editor of The New Straits Times (1991-1995). He had been a columnist, co-ordinator, director, consultant and adviser of numerous local and regional photography societies, competitions, events, excursions, programmes and conducted several photojournalism courses. He has held more than 33 solo exhibitions since Through Thai Windows And Doorways in 1982. His book Images Of Gitanjali, a photographic interpretation of Rabindranath Tagore’s prize-winning literary work is as much a collector’s item as the photography tribute. He studied Physics (Nuclear Physics and Cosmology) at the Singapore University from 1963 to 1969. His parents were also both artists. His Paris-trained father, O. Don Peris (1893-1975), served as royal artist in the Johor court of Sultan Sir Ibrahim. In 2018, he presented a solo exhibition Divinity Within in commemoration of his father at Sutra Gallery. On display in exhibition were 16 photographs that captured the inner force driving traditional and ritualistic dancers.