By Matters India Reporter

Bengaluru: The first workshop for Dalit Christian artists has stressed the need for reviving the long forgotten but rich artistic heritage of the community.

Around 20 participants from various parts of India attended the May 19-21 workshop at the Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru. It was organized by the Office for Scheduled Caste/Backward Class under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.

Father Devasagayaraj M Zakarias, national secretary of the CBCI Office for Dalit Development, noted it was the first workshop organized for the Dalit Christian artists in India. It aimed to create and promote the Dalit art which is “so rich but forgotten along the history,” the priest explained.

Besides students of art colleges, the participants included professional and experienced artists of different age groups.

Bengaluru-based senior artist Jyoti Sahi, the main resource person, motivated the participants to come out with Dalit Art through biblical concepts. On the first day, Sahi spoke elaborately on religious art particularly Biblical art to the participants.

Sahi, who manages an art ashram in Silvepura, a village just outside Bengaluru, is considered the most inventive painter of biblical themes living in India. An artist since the late 1960s, he has been instrumental in developing a visual gospel language that’s contextualized to Indian culture and in fostering Hindu-Christian dialogue.

The workshop ended with an exhibition of the paintings drawn by the participants. Several visitors and art lovers said they were amazed at the quality of the paintings the participants drew during the three-day workshop.

Inbaraj Jeyakumar, general secretary of Students Christian Movement of India, who opened the exhibition, called for making use of Dalit art as a weapon for Dalit liberation.

Jeyakumar is a member of the Church of South India Madurai Diocese. He started his association with the student movement when he studied in the American College and then in the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary Madurai.

Jesuit Father Selvaraj Arulnathan, director of the Indian Social Institute, Bangalore, inaugurated the workshop.

Also present at the workshop was Sister Robancy A. Helen, program coordinator for CBCI Office.