"Visualising the Invisibles: The Problems and Aesthetics of Representation”
Ms Kalaiarasi R.
PhD Scholar, Department of English Studies, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu, India
The Representation of India in the main stream visual art is not different from main stream literature because it is mainly about the celebration of traditional cultural heritage, which is bhraminical in nature. The cultures of minorities and indigenous people had no space in the mainstream arts and literature, and it gets neglected as low forms of arts and literature. Dalits and their lives had been deliberately exluded in the mainstream artistic tradition.
The exclusion of Dalits society happens not only socially but also artistically. Nevertheless, the lives of Dalits entwines with arts, music, festivals, rituals and ideology. Dalit art and literature had its own symbolism. Visual Representation of Dalits is an important form in creating an identity and space since the visual imageries so far produced are Brahminical. Visualization offers a unique approach to understanding caste in contemporary Indian society. The visual imageries of Dalits come from the daily experience, the pain and the suffering they undergo. In this context, the paper takes the novel A Gardner in the wasteland Jotipa Phule's fight for liberty and discusses ways the novel challenges the dogmas of Hinduism and how it subverts them. This paper will discuss the need to capture the oppression of Dalits in visual modes. Further, it elaborates on the importance of revisiting the dark ages of the history of the past. Then finally, the paper confers how a couter narrative in the form of visual representation of Dalits debrahminizes and challenges the main narratives of elite visual artists.
Keywords: Visuality, Dalits, Representation, Visual Culture, Bhraminism