Five pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram are now adorned with striking abstract designs. Spirals, circles, lines and whorls of colour create eye-catching designs on the pillars in shades of red, yellow, green, blue, orange, peach and pink. The dusty, drab pillars have been turned into giant canvasses by two artists from the district, Uthamaraj KU and Vinil Chandran.
Implemented by District Nirmithi Kendra, the project involved selecting the artists and giving them the designs and colour schemes for the pillars. Each pillar has a base shade; the tallest one is painted sky blue, while peach and pink have been applied on the second one. The third one has a yellow-green combo and the fourth one, a dark blue shade. The smallest one has a blue backdrop and a combination of different colours.
Uthamaraj KU doing art work on one of the pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Uthamaraj says they took around 10 days to complete the work. “We used to post the progress of our work on our Instagram handles (@hodophile_artist, @artist_vinil_) and that got us a lot of attention,” says Uthamaraj, a resident of Malayam. Vinil is from Chengal near Neyyattinkara in the district.
The duo got the project after they did a wall art at the District Collectorate at Kudappanakkunu as part of the Smart City project. “It is centred around the past, present and future of Thiruvananthapuram. The Nirmithi Kendra officials happened to see our work since their office is located on the same premises,” says Uthamaraj. The project is implemented with the CSR fund of Lulu group towards the city’s beautification.
Vinil Chandran doing art work on one of the pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Uthamaraj adds, “The dimension of each pillar is different from the other. We went by the design and took turns to paint each pillar. We worked from 6am to 6pm.”
Since pencil sketching would not work on such a surface, the designs were made with paint itself. The base colour was applied after that. Wall primer was applied before the artists started the work. “The pillars have small holes between the bricks. So the consistency of the paint had to be such that it should not run off or get inside the holes,” Uthamaraj points out.
Pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram have got an artistic makeover | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The artists took a break when the temperatures soared and boils started appearing on their hands. “It was tough to work in the hot sun, sitting or standing on the scaffold. But since we were doing something that we loved, the heat did not bother us initially,” says 27-year-old Vinil.
While Uthamaraj studied mechanical engineering at the Central Polytechnic College, Vattiyoorkkavu, Vinil learnt welding from the Industrial Training Institute, Dhanuvachapuram.
Uthamaraj has been into making props for dance shows and Vinil too used to work with him. When the pandemic brought everything to a halt, Uthamaraj started doing wall art for friends and relatives. That eventually got him a project at the metro station at Aluva near Kochi, where he drew a fusion of art forms of Kerala. After that, he did wall art at different locations in Kochi, including the metro station at Kadavanthara and Kochi Water Metro jetties at High Court and Vypeen. He has also been doing wall artwork at shops, business establishments, homes, gyms etc in Thiruvananthapuram.
Uthamaraj KU doing art work on one of the pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Vinil has been doing artwork on the sets of reality shows on the Asianet channel for seven years now. He is currently pursuing a diploma course in fashion designing.
Vinil Chandran doing art work on one of the pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Public spaces becoming a canvas for art is not new for Thiruvananthapuram. If Arteria, a joint initiative of District Tourism Promotion Council and Department of Tourism in 2015 was a one-of-its-kind project on this front, the city has seen several such projects since then, with artists painting the walls in and around city with themes drawn from the history of the State and Nature.
Pillars of the flyover at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram with the artwork | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The artists hope that the makeover given to the pillars would make the residents think about keeping public spaces clean and beautiful. Especially with beautification work on to utilise the space under the flyover.
Meanwhile, an official with Nirmithi Kendra pointed out that Lulu group’s CSR fund is also being used for beautification works at Mannanthala, Devaswom Board and Thycaud junctions.
