Sudharak Olwe has been a Mumbai-based photojournalist since 1988 and has worked as a press photographer with some of the leading newspapers in India.
He is presently the Photo Editor of the country's largest read Marathi Newspaper, Lokmat. Sudharak has travelled the length and breadth of this nation and seen first hand some incredible stories of resilience, courage and change. He has worked in tandem with many NGOs presenting their extraordinary work with both rural and urban communities.In 2016, Sudharak was conferred the Padma Shri, India’s 4th Highest Civilian Award by the President of India. Sudharak's photography is that of empathy. It is a journey into the unseen perspective of the human condition. His photography cuts across all barriers and presents to you a moving story of individuals and communities. His efforts have beennoteworthy in the role of preserving Dalit archives and the role of the Dalit Panther Movement. Dalits in India areIndia's erstwhile untouchables who sit on the lower castes in the ladder of caste that keeps in India still in thestate of a silent apartheid that is based on skin. Thus his works on the situation of conservancy sanitation workers in Bombay and the atrocities specially against women from the Dalit Community in Maharashtra hasbeen essential in uncovering discrimination even by the mainstream press in India towards the issues of Dalits. He is a Dalit himself and last year was awarded by the government a civilian award for his efforts towards Social Justice. From India unless a subaltern voice in photography does not rise, it will always be a place of exotic ridicule in the name of travel photography and the medium alienated from a large audience.