Street Art to spread on a wider canvas in Hyderabad

Organisers plan to put up ‘aesthetic’ billboards and bring art into the public domain

Who cares? Two men answering nature’s call even as the mural which has come up as part of the Street Art Festival conveys the essence of keeping the surroundings clean near Necklace Road.

After shaking up things on the Necklace Road and MS Maqtha, street art is set to shake up the art scene across the city. “All you see while driving on the road in Hyderabad is advertisements and more advertisements, we want to shake up people with art,” says Hanif Qureshi of St-Art, an NGO that is using art to transform neighbourhoods. “We are planning to put up billboards that are works of art. This will bring art into the public domain which has been our endeavour with the street art project as well as the two-day Telangana Kala Mela,” says Prshant Lahoti of Krishnakriti Foundation.

The change is already visible to commuters on the Necklace Road where artists are busy creating works that are a blend of graffiti and art. Dutch artist Daan Botlek has used social commentary for his creation that is spread across a building creating almost 70 ft by 40 ft painting. The wall shows a man falling from a height, tumbling and then rubbing his head. It is only one half of the art, a wicked twist to humour lies on the other side, which shows a monster picking up two persons urinating and throwing them into the lake.

“We have had people come to us asking that their walls be painted with what we are doing. Some of them showed photographs on their cellphones of the walls, telling how much better their walls are than what we are doing here,” says Julia, who is coordinating with the artists executing the project.

But it has not been all hunky dory as the residents of Madar Saheb Maqtha baulked at the idea of street art. “First they were not aware of what we were planning to do. Then they wanted to know what is the benefit we are going to derive. Some of them wanted payment which would defeat the purpose of street art,” says Dharya Gambhir of St-Art who has been liaisoning with residents for getting the walls covered with art.

The foreground for one part of the art project is part of the land for the Eidgah which is used by cab drivers to park their vehicles but they have their reservations about change. “It looks very good. People are stopping to see which is a good thing as many of these walls were not even whitewashed. But this has not stopped so we don’t know how it will help,” Abdul Jeelani says with a laugh, pointing at two men easing themselves on the wall.