Does Chennai have a graffiti culture? The jury may be out on that especially considering so much of our wall space is occupied by posters and banners, both to do with political parties and the film industry. Though some of the walls have a very clear warning ‘Don't stick bills,’ hardly anyone seems to bother.
So, it’s a refreshing change to see #WakeupMadras, an initiative that attempts to use street art to voice social issues. While the group puts up updates on various issues, they do seem to specifically focus on the condition of walls in the city. The Facebook page of the group, whose members prefer to remain anonymous, was started a year back, and now has over 3,000 ‘likes’.
The page has pictures of members of the group putting up in various parts of the city graffiti with the image of a dog lifting one of its legs, accompanied by a message in Tamil, ‘Are you a dog?” #wakeupmadras.’ These illustrations were spotted in many areas like OMR, Anna Nagar and Kotturpuram and were clearly targeted at those who urinate in public.
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Aishwarya.A and Sweatha. S, undergraduate students, who follow #WakeupMadras on Facebook, say “It is an extraordinary movement and I fully support their cause. The walls in Chennai are very disturbing to look at; sometimes, they have very lame messages promoting unnecessary news,” said Sweatha.