Bakery Prasad’s debut solo exhibition puts the spotlight on Dalits

The colour blue, symbolic of the Dalit movement in India, and digital prints, animated films and family artefacts linked to India’s marginalised communities, took centre stage at Siddhesh Gautam aka Bakery Prasad’s debut solo exhibition, ‘We The People (Too),’ at the Museum of Goa (MOG) in Pilerne, which was unveiled on Sunday, August 25.

Speaking at the weekly MOG Sunday talk, Gautam said that the colour blue, a predominant feature of his mixed-media artworks, is inspired by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s belief that ‘Under the blue sky, we are all equal’.

“Because we are different, just as the sky is also different, and the same at one time. My blue is not sad. My blue is hopeful that there will be a blue sky, and we will all be equal under it,” Gautam said at his lecture, which coincided with the inauguration of his solo show.

‘We The People (Too)’ celebrates the contributions of Dr Ambedkar, Savitribai Phule, Phoolan Devi, Dr Anand Teltumbde, and several other activists and social reformers in the struggle to gain equality in the country. Gautam’s artworks portray the struggles of marginalised communities to achieve true freedom.

Running until September 8, the exhibition features his distinctive mixed media works that tackle caste inequality and social justice. His minimalist, yet impactful, style combines digital prints, family artefacts and animated films to challenge notions of independence and social progress.

“My art is a dialogue with history and society. It’s about questioning how far we’ve come in achieving true freedom and equality. The exhibition is a reflection of the progress we've made and the challenges that remain,” said Gautam, whose artist name ‘Bakery Prasad’ stems from his fondness for baked goods.

His grandfather, Gautam said, is the major inspiration behind his distinct art style. Orphaned at the age of five, his grandfather began commissioning local artists for portraits of him and his father, sparking Gautam’s interest.

“My grandfather used to think that his father was a spiritual guru, and that is how he would describe him to the artists. So, there are a series of paintings that depict my grandfather’s fictional father growing old alongside him. My colour palette is directly picked from these images, which utilised a lot of blue,” he said, digging into the origins of his fascination with the colour blue.

Gautam’s early life was shadowed by the shame and taboo of being a Dalit, leading him to falsely claim upper-class identity.

“I had to rewrite all my stories about my grandmother cooking fish or pork, changing them to stories of her making kadhi (curry) and other vegetarian dishes,” he said, adding that only when he met a mentor abroad that he realised that solidarity can be found amongst the oppressed.

Following the realisation, he finally embraced his identity as a Dalit and started using his artwork to voice out the ode of Dalit oppression.

For Dalit people in India, freedom is as basic as being considered a human being. “We just want to be acknowledged as humans, not as Dalit people or broken people. We come in every colour, shape and size. We are as human as anybody else. We are as evil as any other human. We are as generous as any other human,” he said.

“To be considered a human is very important,” said Gautam, who has lectured at various universities and colleges, including Tufts University in New York, Oxford University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, United Kingdom, the University of Vienna and the Hague-based International Institute of Social Studies.

Further speaking about his exhibition, Gautam said that the core thought behind it was to start a discussion on the variability of freedom.

“Basically, the idea was to discuss what freedom means to different sorts of people,” he concluded.

‘ ‘We The People (Too)’ by Siddhesh Gautam aka Bakery Prasad will be on show till September 8, 2024 at the Museum of Goa, Pilerne.