Events

Panel Discussion

29 January ’11 / 06:30 pm

Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability is a distinctive graphic biography of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. In Bhimayana, Ambedkar’s experiences of growing up untouchable and being routinely discriminated against—in school at the age of 10, in Baroda after his return from Columbia University, and while travelling—are reconstructed in a magical way by Pardhan Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subahsh Vyam. Experiences similar to Ambedkar’s, that continue to haunt a majority of India’s 170 million Dalits, are interwoven with Ambedkar’s story. Urmila Pawar, Ranjit Hoskote, and Jerry Pinto will be in conversation with the artists of Bhimayana, Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam, and co-writer and publisher of the book, S. Anand.

Urmila Pawar is a well-known Marathi short story writer and author of the autobiography Aaydan (2004), translated into English and published as The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs.

Ranjit Hoskote has published four volumes of poetry and is a renowned curator and art critic.

Jerry Pinto is a journalist, poet and critic.

Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam are Pardhan Gond artists belonging to the same clan as the legendary Jangarh Singh Shyam. The artist-couple lives in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Bhimayana is their first graphic book and their first book together.

S. Anand is the publisher of Navayana and co-writer of Bhimayana. He was a journalist for ten years.

Venue:

Jnanapravaha

Queens Mansion, 3rd Floor,

G. talwatkar marg, Fort,

Mumbai – 400001

E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]