JOIN USWhere walls come alive
About three decades ago, Wynwood, a neighbourhood in Miami, was synonymous with drugs, crime and prostitution. Decades later, this once-forlorn patch of Miami, which was primarily known as a working class district inhabited by Puerto Ricans, morphed into a street-art showcase. As you walk into the heart of Wynwood, you will soon realise why it is called the most ‘instagrammable’ spot in America.
Graffiti spots are countless across the world now. Compared to the West and some other parts of the world, Indian cities are not known for wall graffiti. Places like Delhi’s Hauz Khas village — where you spot some — are rather rare. However, Kolkata recently saw an entire south Kolkata neighbourhood, Brahmapur, being turned into a wall graffiti hotspot.
A major credit for the idea to convert the outside walls of houses goes to one of the residents, Anirban Bhattacharya, a popular actor in Bengali cinema and television as well as in the theatre circuit.
From Charlie Chaplin to Mickey Mouse and Bengal’s own icons, every famous character and person finds a place on Brahmapur’s walls. The locality has now become a rage and sees a steady stream of visitors, wanting to savour the artistic creativity on otherwise dull boundary walls.
As for the initiative, Bhattacharya reveals, “2020 was a difficult year for everyone. So during our locality’s Durga Puja meeting, I proposed that costs could be curtailed and with the money saved, we could do something sustainable and creative. Fortunately, everyone agreed readily. The work began during the Puja itself in October and was finished by February,” he says.
Bhattacharya also shared how the idea germinated. It was on a visit to a hamlet in Jhargram district where villagers paint the walls of their cottages. “The idea sparked from there. I also want to invite the people working in the village to come here and see our work. I would love to reach out to them,” the actor says.
Says a resident speaking to TWF: “When we first started, not many were sure what it was all about. Many had their walls painted or whitewashed recently and so were reluctant. But once they saw the colourful change to the walls of their neighbours, they came on board.”
There were many local artists as well as from outside the locality who painted the walls.
Most of them are friends of Bhattacharya and his wife Madhurima (also a theatre actor).
While Brahmapur is showing the way for many other neighbourhoods in Kolkata, the city witnessed something similar in 2018 when electrical junction boxes were transformed into canvases, due to the efforts of two organisations.
Street art is liberating. It can be a tool of protest as much as of entertainment. Graffiti touches upon stories that others are unwilling to tell.
TWF