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18th May 2012

Images by Olato Kunbo

Bangalore wallflower project

by Olato Kunbo

Walking past Bangalore’s walls requires one to keep one’s eyes firmly fixed to the ground to either avoid potholes or prevent splashing into the waning tributary of a man who has relieved himself.

Ridhi D’Cruz, writer and travel junkie now pursuing a higher education course, Shilo Shiv Suleman, illustrator par excellence and Siddharth Chadha, aspiring filmmaker and journalist decided to change this tragicomic scene in Bangalore and paint walls. To clear demark themselves from graffiti artists that focus anti-state politics, the trio decided to keep the wall paintings, non-serious, light-hearted and fun. "And unlike graffiti artists, we work during the day,” declared Suleman.

Though their approach has been to brighten up the plain walls of Bangalore, they have not always met with resounding acceptance. “In our first attempt, we thwarted by displeased neighbours and passers-by, but our second at Rest House Road Crescent was met with encouragement and non-interference by the neighbours and police who seemed unperturbed,” said Suleman.

This trend has continued with the trio along with friends and volunteers painting walls across the city such as at a government school in Adugodi, by the art collective Jaaga, and at the offices of the Alternative Law Forum. In another event, co-hosted by the Indian Youth Climate Network at Bangalore Central Mall, the trio gathered friends to construct a collage entirely out of electronic waste.

But Shilo Shiv Suleman says clearly that this project has to go beyond the trio. “We have been active on and off, collectively painting five walls since we began. We imagined that once there was a spark, then the project would survive on its own steam and become a project that is sustained by ever-increasing volunteer base, which hasn’t happened yet.”

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Olato Kunbo is a writer and poet based in Bangalore

COMMENTS

"Great initiative! As for people not spitting or urinating on the walls - paintings of various deities is a sure shot solution (in a country like India). This was implemented in a factory where deity idols were placed on each landing of a staircase and thus stopped people from spitting as against plants and pictures that did not do the trick."

- Lasika Kannan