Painting the change

Delhi speaks

Delhi painted its heart out this weekend. More than 500 Delhi-based artists splashed a one-km wall outside the DU Vice Chancellor’s office with colours, as part of an event called Delhi Wallbook. They were asked to depict the changes they want to see in the City with the theme ‘Design the change.’

Delhi Wallbook is an initiative of Brand Promotions India supported by Tata Housing. The first Wallbook was held in Mumbai in May 2012 and proved to be a resounding success. Therefore, they decided to replicate the initiative in Delhi.

Sunil Kutty Menon, founder, Wallbook, informs us, “Sometime back, I visited US and saw how graffiti was accepted as a beautiful and perfectly legal way of expressing oneself there. Also, graffiti can convey all kinds of social messages in an interesting and witty manner.”

“I felt a graffiti culture must be developed in India as well. We have ample public spaces, excellent artists and many social problems to address. Hence, came about Wallbook. And what better place could we do it in Delhi than the VC office? Thousands of people pass by this street every day. We are sure the paintings and the messages will get embedded in their minds immediately.”

500 of these young artists - invited from the top art colleges of Delhi, artists’ groups and NGOs – started work on the wall at 8 in the morning armed with thoughts, brushes and paints. Understandably, the December 16th gangrape was on top of their mind.

Many depicted women in distress or the girl child crying for help. Gaurav Lekhi of a private animation school Anitoons painted three men as devils complete with horns, a fork tail etc., and a girl killing them with a spear, ala goddess Durga.
Niloy Kundu and Rohit Taitwal of Deviant Art group painted a man lying on the road with blood all around and a group of men just standing and staring at them. The faces of these men were not human but CCTV cameras.

Yet another painting, by Gagan, Wahi and Taran of Delhi College of Art, portrayed policemen snoring away to glory and a PCR van bearing a skull and bones danger sign.

The recent anti-corruption protests in Delhi also found resonance in the artists’ work with a group of students from Jamia Milia Islamia painting a portrait of Anna Hazare with a Che Guevara cap.

Flavour of Art – a group of hobby artists – came up with a wonderful innovation called ‘Colour filtration.’ They painted a scenery with two men peeing, Yamuna swarming with dirt and a tree with birds but also crackers bursting around. The negative elements were painted in orange.

When you saw these paintings through a red film, all the negativities disappeared leaving only a clean, green and desirable Delhi behind.

At the end of the event, judge, Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Jamia, professor Zargar Zahoo, exclaimed, “It is wonderful to see Delhi’s young artists participate in such an event so enthusiastically. They have got wonderful ideas and know how to execute them. I am sure this wall will stand as a symbol of artistic expressions and Delhi’s conscientious side for a long time to come.”