Yogesh Saini, who added colour to Delhi’s streets one wall at a time, dies

“His approach was that he wanted to leave a legacy, with people enjoying art, both the process of creation and once it was complete,” says artist-curator Akshat Sinha, CEO of Delhi Street Art.

A resident of Alaknanda, Saini had no formal training in art but he did believe in its power to bring people together. His first project in 2013 was painting the dustbins at Lodhi Garden, which included one by him.

While a team of artists was gradually built, over time one project led to another and soon he was working with the New Delhi Municipal Council for the beautification of Shankar Market, where DSA painted an array of motifs, from flying birds to city life, music and dance.
At Khan Market is a wall designed as an Art Nukkad, with protagonists from different walks of life. To mark the G20 Summit in Delhi last year, DSA painted, among others, pillars standing between Dilli Haat and INA market with traditional motifs from Gond and Madhubani art. “He touched so many lives and inspired so many youngsters,” says Sinha, adding, “We would look out for walls, in some cases also with the objective that people would want to keep it clean thereby.”

While the projects DSA undertook and the walls it painted span over 20 cities, from Malana (Himachal Pradesh) to Ahmedabad (Gujarat), efforts were also made to initiate a change through art. On the boundary wall outside Suncity School in Gurgaon, for instance, is a painted plea for gender parity. At a slum in Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar, where DSA worked off and on for over a month in 2019, meanwhile, efforts were made to try to involve people residing in the neighbourhood.

“He always wanted to work with the local community and engage with people, allowing them to express their ideas through art. He wasn’t commercially driven and wanted people to enjoy art,” says Yashika Gupta, Project Manager with DSA.
She adds, “We hope to take forward and implement what he envisioned for the streets across India.”