JOIN USSkip the upscale boutiques, restaurants,and ruins of Hauz Khas Village and amble out in the winding streets that take you to pahari or the slum area. You would be in for a surprise as the landscape of the area has gone in for a colourful transformation, courtesy the Colombian artist, Vicky Fadul.
Dappled in colours from head to toe, she stood midst a puddle of paints tackling her newly trained painters. “Now it’s all madness,” says 23-year old Manish Kumar, her Spanish-to-English translator, as Vicky raises both her hands to express the same. Vicky Fadul came to the Capital for a week-long project ‘La Casa Pintada’ or The Painted House to work with the community and make them learn the art of painting.
With her ebullience, the 55-year old artist inspires a love for colours, fun and madness for paints.
Coming from Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, she is visiting Delhi for the first time. “I have worked in almost 55 places over the last 11 years for ‘La Casa Pintanda’, travelling to villages of Colombia, United Kingdom and Indonesia,” says the artist with a current of music and energy in her mother-tongue.
Her project derives its name from the title of an article published by a renowned poet and storyteller, Juan Manuel Rocca to describe her work in an international publication.
Vicky came to the city 10 days ago. About her first Delhi experience, she says, “The kids go out to study or work in the day, so I could only take up my workshops from 1pm to 6pm. I spent early mornings to see the city that is dotted with history everywhere you go and in the day, I worked with the people in the slum to paint the boundary walls of their houses.” She works with the marginalised population wherever she goes, with an intent to breathe in happiness and hope in their lives, apart from arming them with a career option.
Ask her about her plans to come back, “There’s no time for a vacation. My next project in Colombia would be a performance on cloaks laden with flowers. Cloaks are always associated with superheroes and kings, I want to make some flower-cloaks to signify happiness,” says the artist while imitating the twirling around of a cloak with her fingers.
After splashing up the city with her lively energy and art, she seemed excited for a trip to Rajasthan, Banaras and Punjab before leaving for Colombia.