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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Launch & Exhibition for Ground-Breaking Indian Graphic Novel
Posted: April 10, 2011
This Tuesday evening April 12th, during the London Book Fair, I am honoured to be invited to the London launch evening for a ground-breaking graphic novel from India entitled Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability from Navayana Publishing, in New Delhi. Writer S. Anand and traditional Pardhan-Gond artists Durgabi Vyam and Subhash Vyam craft a graphic biography of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), one of India’s foremost revolutionaries, who drafted the Constitution of India. Defying conventional grammar, the writer and artists infuse fresh energy into the graphic idiom through their magical art mounted on an epic scale and interweave historical events with contemporary experiences of untouchability. After the book’s five-city launch in India, the Bhimayana roadshow travels to London on the eve of Dr. Ambedkar’s 120th anniversary, at the Nehru Centre. This has been made possible with the support of the Ambedkar International Mission, UK, and resources of One World Action, London.
The artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam will be participating in an invitation-only event which will see author Patrick French, poet Meena Kandasamy and myself speaking about Bhimayana. Following the launch, an exhibition of art work from Bhimayana, including two 8 foot x 5 foot canvases based on the graphic novel, will be on display to the public during the day at the Nehru Centre Gallery on April 13th and 14th - the actual anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s birth. Copies of Bhimayana, signed by the artists, will be available for sale at the venue. 14 inch x 22 inch prints from Bhimayana on special art paper will also be available for sale (£25 a piece), as well as T-shirts (£12 each). Navayana will use the proceeds from these items to publish more books opposing the caste system. For further details of this UK tour, please visit this site. And you can read more about this and other recent Indian graphic novels in my Article Indian Comics: A Visual Renaissance.
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