17 Powerful Photographs That Show The History Of Discrimination Against “Untouchables"
The images are part of the exhibition at an international photo festival that begins in Nepal on Friday.
An exhibition called Dalit: A Quest for Dignity has opened in Nepal, featuring powerful photos and testimonies that document the experiences of the Nepali Dalits, who are considered the country's lowest caste. Dalits, previously known as "untouchables," face discrimination in their social and working lives.
The exhibition is part of Photo KTM, a two-week international photo festival that begins in Kathmandu on Friday. Unlike most photo exhibitions, Photo KTM aims to be unique by using the streets and alleys of the historic town of Patan as its gallery space; organizers say work by artists from Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Cambodia among others will be displayed on walls along the streets that were damaged by last year's earthquake.
Curator Diwas Raja KC said it is important to accurately record the history of Dalits. “Records are typically tools of oppression, techniques of power," he said. "They are means by which the rich have exploited the poor and the powerful have dominated the powerless."
The images below, provided exclusively to BuzzFeed News, show a collection of photos and stories from the exhibition, including details of the segregation of drinking water, debts between castes, and the suspected murder of a man who eloped with a young woman from a different caste.
Kathmandu, 1963
Untouchability is commonly upheld through a prohibition on sharing of water and cooked food. During a morning break at Pharping Boarding School, everyone was served tea in ceramic tea cups, except for this sweeper, who, because of his caste, was given his tea in an empty tin can.
Jim Fisher
Kailali, 2007
The municipality in Tikapur bowed to the demand of upper-caste villagers to separate their water supply from that of Dalits. At the Dalit tap seen here, this separation is welcome, for it emancipates them from the daily humiliation of awaiting the goodwill of an upper caste to pour them some water from afar.
Jakob Carlsen
Bajhang, 1989
There were systems established to keep Dalits poor and customs to remind them that poverty is their rightful place. Here a family of Sarkis are seen in their quarters in Bajhang.
Mary Cameron