Dalit Artists Challenge Artworld Elitism, Suraj Yengde Argues

In a recent essay series for ArtReview, academic Suraj Yengde contends that the art world has traditionally catered to the elite, yet a new wave of Dalit artists is transforming this landscape. Yengde, who has studied at Harvard and Oxford and authored 'Caste Matters' (2019), draws on his family's artistic legacy—his father Milind Yengde and uncle Raju Suryatal—to demonstrate how caste stifles creativity. He outlines a 200-year lineage of Dalit artists, including Vaman Kardak (1922–2004), Savi Savarkar (1962–), and Raja Dhale (1940–2019), the Dalit Panthers' founder, who harnessed art for liberation. Contemporary artists such as Prabhakar Kamble, Vikrant Bhise, and others are now gaining recognition in galleries and festivals worldwide, including the Berlin Biennale and Documenta. In India, they are collaboratively curating at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai for the first time. Yengde situates Dalit art within a global narrative of marginalized communities, drawing parallels with critiques of consumption in African art. The series aims to delve into the diverse expressions of Dalit art.