Anthotypes are images created using photosensitive material from plants. The following images are self-portraits, created using rose pigments. These prints as objects, seek to be reminders of the significance of the Dalit female body in the politics of ancient and contemporary India. Roses, flowers in general were once banned for Dalit females in Tamilnadu, a southern state in India. By employing this material to create images of my body (a Dalit female), I intend to subvert the role of this material in my ancestral history and identity.
The Dalit, female form is at the center of caste oppression. The entire system of hierarchy within the caste system has been founded on the bodies of women. Controlling women and their sexuality has been the foundation of the caste system, as explained by Dr.Br Ambedkar, who analyses caste as the product of sustained endogamy.
The Anthotypes themselves, much like the fleeting nature of societal attention, are temporary. They mirror the transient acknowledgment afforded to the Dalit female, whose plight at the bottom of the Hindu-Indian social order is either conveniently forgotten or willfully ignored. These prints, with their gradual fade into obscurity, parallel the persistent erasure of the Dalit female narrative from the collective consciousness.
