National Conference on Dalit Art and Imagery

Depiction and aspiration through visual imagery

The movement of Dalit arts and imagery began concomitant to Ambedkar anti-caste civil right movement between early 1920’s to mid 1950’s. It gathered visible recognition in the early 1990’s drawing the attention of international who began to conceptualize and discuss the same more clearly only in the 2000’s. The movement through Art and Imagery captured various dimensions of the Dalit experience and history with untouchability, exclusion from society the hierarchies of the caste system, oppressive religious summons etc. What qualifies as Dalit Art and Imagery is a subject of negotiation but the importance of its role in providing insights into the social transformation needed for a casteless society are evident.

Prof. Gary Tartakov is an eminent international author, among the first academics who began to capture and ideate creatively the movements’ conscious on various public platforms. The recent Oxford University Press book Dalit Arts and Visual Imagery is a series of articles showcasing and discussing various distinct depictions themed on the Dalit movement in India. This landmark book has brought to the limelight the Dalit Art and Imagery movement and highlighted various aspects.

This National conference will draw together artists, writers, activists, academics, policy makers and other persons concerned with the arts and literature from across the nation. To be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University Convention Centre from the 4^th to the 6^th of March 2013 from 10 am. Central to this conference will be the launch of the book and an exhibition of Dalit Art from leading Dalit artists showcasing their work.

We invite student papers for a panel entitled ‘Dalit in Popular Imagination’ to be held on the second day of the conference. The papers can be from a range of topics relating to Dalit expression and representation in terms of art, cinema and literature. The last date for the submission of abstracts is the 18^th of February. Abstracts are to be sent to: sap.ces@gmail.com.