Shelter homes, public toilets in city set to sport street art

The Urban development department of the Delhi government has apparently written a letter to various departments, including municipal corporations, to identify such public spaces, which can be utilised for such purposes. “To begin with, we thought of toilets and shelter homes so that people would want to enter and use such spaces without apprehensions,” the official said.

This foundation will also take up work in shelter homes being set up specifically for women besides working with other government agencies like women and child development department (juvenile homes) and the Public Works Department etc.

Incidentally, St+art India Foundation is responsible for the Gandhi mural painted at the Police headquarters building, which is touted to be the tallest Gandhi mural in the country. This black-and-white work, which came up in January 2014, was painted by German graffiti artist Hendrik Beikirch (also known as ECB, who has to his credit a 230ft high mural of a fisherman in Busan, South Korea. Beikirch hails from a town called Koblenz, close to Frankfurt ) along with Delhi-based artist Anpu and was finished in January 30, the death anniversary of Gandhi.

St+art is an urban art festival that aims to promote street art on Indian landscapes, as well as provide a collaborative platform for artists from all over the world. It has worked in many urban villages including Shahpurjat, Hauz Khas and Sheikh Sarai.

“Delhi is very grey. Our aim is to change this by the use of street art. Art is not meant to be viewed in galleries but should be accessible anywhere. We are likely to take up working in toilets and shelters in Delhi by end of this year since we will need to raise funds for this project first,” entrepreneur Arjun Bahl, part of this pan India foundation comprising of people from all walks of life like hoteliers, lawyers etc, said.

Another work of theirs includes the wall outside Tihar Jail. Sixteen street artists from around the world and 16 local sign painters collaborated on this 968-metre long wall to write a poem by a woman inmate of the jail. “The wall also promotes long tradition of hand-painted signs, as there are very few left because of digital printing. It took around 21 days to finish this mural, which is now India’s longest mural,” Bahl said.