Eat with Great Delight
I was born and raised in Pune in a half-Dalit, half-English family. Since the 1980s our family has had the luxury of a camera, and as a result we’ve had the opportunity to document our personal histories.
While conducting my research in Dalit food culture, I became aware of the lack of “positive” imagery associated with Dalit communities that were in public circulation. It is, of course, immensely important to extensively document the oppression of the caste system and the deplorable conditions that many Dalit people are forced to survive under. But I think there is something significant – and humanising – in disseminating positive depictions of Dalit people too. With this in mind, I turned to photographs of my own family – most of which revolve around the sharing of food.
The title of this body of work, Eat with Great Delight was borrowed from Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki’s autobiography, Joothan (2003). In the book, Valmiki embodies seemingly contradictory emotions of shame, hunger, satiation, and celebration that surrounds the Dalit experience, especially in relation to “joothan,”—gathering leftovers from upper caste wedding feasts.
Taken between 1984 and 2004 on point-and-shoot film cameras primarily by my parents, Vishakha and Lokamitra, the images are of events that brought our community and family together, or those taken to capture moments that would perhaps never be regained again.
Rajyashri Goody is a visual artist based in Pune. Her art practice is informed by her background in visual anthropology, as well as her Ambedkarite roots. She attempts to decode and make visible instances of everyday power and resistance within Dalit communities in India through the use of various mediums, including writing, ceramics, and photography.
All images from the series Eat with Great Delight. 1984-2004. Analogue photographs.
Hear Rajyashri talk about her project: