A friend of mine told me that the woman in the back is clearly Sinhalese, and the one in front is clearly Tamil, based on their dress, make-up, jewelry. It makes me a little sad that that isn't obvious to me; cultural knowledge I've lost. When I left Sri Lanka as a little girl, would I have known that? I don't know.
The photo hangs in my living room, and often visitors ask if they're relatives of mine. I admit, I'm sometimes a little tempted to claim one is my mother. :-)