The world over, from London to Madrid, city administrations respect street art because it adds a splash of colour, aesthetics and expression to otherwise drab and lacklustre walls. But in Delhi, the PWD is either art blind or insensitive to the effort and imagination that goes into street murals. Perhaps that alone explains why it recently went on a whitewashing spree ahead of the Asean conference. In one broad ‘clean-up’ sweep, entire stretches of art contributed by city-based artists and school students on walls along city flyovers were rendered non-existent. The monotonous off-white paint that replaced street art is now waiting to be defaced by ugly political posters and advertisements by quacks selling miracle cures.
Understandably members of the Delhi Street Art and the citizens group, New Delhi Rising, who are behind the better walls campaign are not amused. The explanation provided for the ‘un-civic’ action was simply that requisite permission had not been taken.
The artists point out that the art project in the first place was a volunteer effort to clean up the filthy walls and pillars of the city, not a collaborative venture with the administration. For us citizens, it was a pleasure to take in the styles and messages put out by young minds.
Obviously, what we seriously lack is acknowledgment of the initiative our young people are taking and respect for their creativity. The officials perhaps are totally unaware of the wall painting movement in many Indian cities. In Mumbai, the drab Sassoon Docks area has been turned into a public art gallery inspired by the ethos and spirit of the people who work in the area. In Bengaluru, metro stations have been given artistic makeovers. In fact, the Delhi street art group has travelled to several cities including Pune, Ahmedabad and Bhopal to promote aesthetics in open spaces. But at home their effort has been washed out. Can it get more absurd than this?
Preeti Mehra Associate Editor