India’s longest mural adorns Tihar Jail

March 19, 2014 10:08 am | Updated May 19, 2016 09:45 am IST - NEW DELHI:

The mural painted across the wall consists verses of a poem written by aTihar Jail inmate. Photo: Monica Tiwari

The mural painted across the wall consists verses of a poem written by aTihar Jail inmate. Photo: Monica Tiwari

The ongoing street art festival in the Capital will conclude on Wednesday by giving the country its longest mural — the verses of a poem written by a Tihar Jail inmate painted across the prison’s wall.

Spread across 968 m — the entire length of the front wall of Tihar Jail — the mural was given final touches by volunteers on Tuesday, the eve of its formal inauguration by Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung.

The poem chosen for the mural is called Chardiwari or four walls. A collaboration between street artists and sign painters, the mural, which consists of graffiti works between gigantic words written in Devnagri script, took nearly a fortnight to complete

The poem written by inmate Seema Ranghuvanshi is featured in Tinka Tinka Tihar , a collection of poems written by four female prisoners in the jail. Chardiwari talks about a person who though confined within the walls of a prison and longing for her loved ones, lives with the hope of meeting them in the future.

Artist and designer Hanif Kureshi, who is the co-founder of the festival, said they chose the poem because they wanted to change the image of the prison, its inmates and debunk stereotypes.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.