To the uninitiated, it appears to be just another overcrowded New Delhi neighbourhood: narrow streets clogged with pedestrians and vegetable carts, tangles of low-slung cables dangling overhead and tightly packed concrete housing.
But glance upwards and you are greeted by the sight of a crouching figure painted on a 10-foot wall. Next door is an enormous scuba diver who appears to be half-robot, half-insect.
These are just two of the 30 murals in New Delhi’s artsy neighbourhood of Shahpur Jat, one of many places where street art is popping up, thanks to the capital’s first street art festival – St. Art Delhi.
Adding colour to the grey
The event, which began last month and runs until the end of this month, is the brainchild of a small group of artists and curators who want to give the crowded metropolis a colourful edge. To that end, 60 graffiti artists from across India and the world, including Taiwan, Germany and Italy, are in town to leave their mark on the urban landscape.
“When you’re on the roads anywhere in India, there’s little out there that’s simply for its visual appeal,” says the festival’s creative director Hanif Kureshi.
Heart of the art
Shahpur Jat is where most of the colour is. The urban village in southern Delhi, popular as a fashion hub, is a quirky mix of independent boutiques, art galleries, sweatshops and stalls. Visitors, maps in hand, mingle with residents as they walk the designated “street art route”.
In India, where the walls usually feature political slogans and symbols, these fantastic designs are a sight of wonder to many. Some of the best works include a several-storey-high depiction of a child climbing, by the stencil artist Tona from Hamburg, and a grey cat playing with a ball of pink string by Anpu, a Germany-based artist known for her feline murals.
“The gulabi [pink] sari lady is my favourite,” says Maneka, an 8-year-old girl, who is playing with her friends near a mural of a cartoon character in a fuchsia sari with hair to match.
“One resident said he’d only allow us to paint his wall if it showed scenes from the [ancient Hindu text] Mahabharata,” says Kureshi with a laugh.
Decorating New Delhi
The graffiti is in other parts of the city, too. One of the city’s biggest stretches of wall was, after some negotiation, turned over to the German street artist Hendrik Beikirch. The wall in question? The Delhi police headquarters in the city centre. The art? An enormous black-and-white representation of Gandhi that took three days to create.
“Street artists are used to painting quickly and running when the police come,” says Andrej “Artez” Žikic, a 25-year-old Serbian artist participating in the festival. “We’re not used to having scaffolding given to us to help us along.”
His work will show a man carrying a basket of bananas on his head, with monkeys stealing the fruit. “I want it to be funny and interesting and something that people can relate to,” he says.
Reaching out
The festival is also screening international short films on street-art culture, as well as hosting workshops on graffiti, stencil art and sign painting. A forthcoming event will have the inmates at the city’s Tihar Jail joining the artists to paint an entire wall.
“We’re making wonderful connections with people,” says Giulia Ambroji, the festival’s curator, who has travelled to New Delhi from her base in Rome. “We’re not just painting walls and going home. This is not selfish art on the part of the artists, this is about engaging with residents.”
• St. Art Delhi runs until February 28. Entrance is free. Visit www.st-artdelhi.org for more details