Vikrant Bhise
Memory, Resistance, and Consciousness, 2023
Archival Historicity/Dalit Panthers, 2023

In Vikrant Bhise’s works at Bergen Kunsthall, the struggle against caste-based domination and its intense implications for land, liberty, and labour is as radically omnipresent as ever. A member of the Dalit caste — a group that faces systematic social discrimination on the Indian subcontinent — Bhise highlights and challenges power structures through an informed iconography. The large painting Memory, Resistance, and Consciousness narrates episodes from the Dalit emancipatory movements, transforming them into a visual archive. Inspired by the murals of post-revolutionary Mexico, it carries forth the vibrant spirit of resistance, assembling a multitude of figures and historical events including the Dalit Panthers, the Worli riots in the Bombay Development Department tenement, Indira Gandhi, the Ramabai killings of Dalit protesters, and more. 
 
In the Kunsthall bookshop is a selection from Bhise’s series Archival Historicity/Dalit Panthers. These intimate, postcard-sized works draw from the legacy of the Dalit Panthers, a group dedicated to seeking freedom from caste, gender, and class inequities for India’s most oppressed and marginalised peoples. Through gouache, watercolour, and ink applied to reproductions of the group’s letterhead, Bhise’s series canonises the Panthers’ legacy for the anti-caste movement in India, weaving a vivid emotional tapestry. These works suggest how localised moments can become global movements and demonstrate Bhise’s ongoing commitment to social justice and enduring reform through activism.