‘Graffiti is fluid, helps in community building and engagement’

The walls were painted over a month ago

Started by a team of four, the PullOut Crew has an objective to not only beautify the vandalised, vacant spaces of the city and convert the vibe of the area, but also inculcate the culture restricted to the particular area. “We have often come across walls and spaces around us which are vandalised or ruined due to misconduct of people. One of our members, John, came across this wall in Wanawadi where some vandals had spray painted upon a wall near a cafe. After much thought, we decided to repaint the wall. We also consulted the cafe owner and to absorb his ideas as well, we made this graffiti in which this man is wearing a helmet made out of a hamburger with fries around him. Now, the graffiti not only conforms to the art of graffiti but also the hidden message of two-wheeler safety,” said Saatchi, 23, one of the members of the group, PullOut Crew.

“Graffiti is quite fluid. Hippie, as well as hip hop cultures both, have graffiti art. The beauty of graffiti is its fluidity and that we can adopt it in our culture. It is not alien anymore. Graffiti is about telling your truth. The medium can change from a wall to a tire, locality to locality,” said 23-year-old Emmanual Sammudre.

The PullOut Crew also said that when they were working on the walls, passersby, instead of complaining, appreciate their work. “There have been instances in which the wall you paint gets vandalised and that is the moment where many artists give up and get demoralised. Instead, we take it up as a challenge to paint something better so that it not only suits the neighbourhood but is also not vandalised again,” added Satchi.

The team takes the western idea of graffiti and infuses it with Indian ideas so people can connect with it. “We can adopt the western idea of graffiti but the viewer will only be able to connect when the visual is local. India is so diverse. It has a lot of traditions and culture… No one will relate if one does not understand the text or visual. One cannot have the culture of one place and paint it somewhere else,” added Emmanual.

The team believes in making mural painting and graffiti a method of community building and engagement.