Lodhi Art District, famed as the first art district in India, boasts over 65 stunning murals by national and international artists. Adding to the vibrancy and legacy of this colony in Delhi was the Lodhi Festival — the first-ever street festival organised by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in collaboration with St+art India Foundation — which concluded earlier this month. Apart from the various performing street arts such as music and dance, the festival also highlighted the role of street murals, graffiti, and installations in shaping and reflecting our cultural identity.
Planned as part of the celebration of India’s G20 Presidency, it included two visually stunning murals by street artists Paola Delfin of Mexico and Andha Ras from Malaysia, in addition to a shadow installation by anonymous urban artist Daku and street art workshops by artist Hanif Kureishi. Apart from beautifying the streets of Lodhi Colony, the spellbinding works also showcased the power of street art in shaping people’s minds and capturing the complexities of day-to-day lives.
Paolo, whose work investigates the impact of feminine beauty and is influenced by daily life, illustrations, and organic forms, captured everyone’s attention with a mural representing the diversity of people living in the area. “After working around Lodhi for 2-3 days and meeting a diverse range of people, I realised how such a big city could have so many stories even in a small locality. As we know, India is the most populated country in the world. So, I wanted to tell as many stories as possible, of different kinds of people that inhabit this city and locality. I also wanted to bring forth the relationship between India and Mexico, the country I come from. These two places have a lot of social contrast” the artist described her artwork to indianexpress.com.
Daku’s shadow installation at Lodhi Festival (Express photo by Chitral Khambhati)
Paola, who started her artistic journey as a kid, started painting big-scale murals a decade back. “I like to interact with different environments. I am not a person who is really comfortable being at one place. After I did a couple of murals, I realised it was a perfect way for me to be able to meet new people and get inspired by different cultures, places, and people. For my mind, street art is better,” she shared, adding that she really enjoys painting people and tries to include the environment and stories of every place she visits.
For Kureishi, an artist and designer working with street and typography, it’s no different. “For me, streets are a larger kind of canvas that have not one but multiple kinds of audience. I like to play with people’s minds and learn how different people respond to art in different ways,” he said, adding that he is deeply interested in languages and scripts as a means to capture viewers’ minds.
At the festival, he conducted workshops for sign painting, graffiti, and stencils which drew elderly and the young to enthusiastically dip their brushes in paints to create little artistic masterpieces, despite the unseasonal March rain. “I started a project called handpainted type in 2011 in which I commission sign painters across India to design their own fonts. Then, we digitise it and put it back online on handpaintedtype.com. The aim of the project was to preserve the Indian sensibility and Indian sign painting which makes the Indian landscape different from the rest of the world. India is very much handpainted. But now, fewer people are taking up this art form. Imagine an India which is going to be completely digitally painted!,” he said, emphasising the need to encourage such street art forms, adding that our street art sensibility is what sets us apart and he is working to preserve that part of the aesthetics.
Paola Delfin’s mural at Lodhi Festival (Express photo by Chitral Khambhati)
With this aim, he has also co-founded St+art India Foundation which intends to make art accessible to a larger audience in India through a series of street art festivals. Kureishi’s works, which attempt to bring back attention to such arts and their validity in representing diverse technologies of graphic design in India, have been exhibited at the London Design Biennale, Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou Paris, Triennale Design Museum, Milan among others.
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Anonymous urban street artist Daku, on the other hand, created a shadow installation at the festival which, according to him, stressed the importance of living in the present moment. “It is more of an installation and less of a shadow artwork. Most of the time when I work with shadows, I try not to highlight the structure. In this case, I knew the weather would be cloudy and the Lodhi Festival would be mostly a night event, so I tried to work with the structure itself which can change with lighting, wind, rain, and, of course, sun. It says, ‘All we have is now’ in a loop. By doing that, I ask people to live in the moment and emphasise that all we have is now. It’s not about our past or future, but now. It’s about how you make the most of the present moment. In the context of the festival, when there are lots of activities happening and people are present with their loved ones, I am encouraging people to live in now and celebrate what we have,” he said.
Daku, who is famous for his murals which satirise and protest contemporary socio-political issues, added that he is interested in the streets and streets are what have inspired him. “My journey as a street artist began with graffiti. For me, graffiti was an expression of street typography in a different context. Whenever I work on the streets, I try to play with people’s minds and I am more interested in playing with the masses and their thinking and knowing how would they react to an image upon seeing it. My expression is more to do with the thinking and what my works make someone think rather than focusing on artistic skills per se,” the artist shared.
Art workshop organised by Hanif Kureishi (Express photo by Chitral Khambhati)
Highlighting the immense potential of street art in the country, the artists said that it is just starting. “At the moment, I am seeing a lot of interesting young people doing graffiti, wall paintings, etc. The next talent will really come from the smaller towns of India. I see great scope for future generations to work as professional street artists which, when I was growing up, wasn’t there. It’s only going to grow further from here,” Daku said.
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Agreeing, Kureishi said that streets are where the people are. “If we can impact a generation, our thinking will be totally different. Imagine kids growing up around so much art in Lodhi Colony; they will be open to new ideas and experiments. I wish I grew up in an environment like this, which is so inspiring, and has so many different expressions and stories to talk about. This is just the beginning of street art in India. I see a lot more coming up in the next few years and what we are doing right now is just setting up the foundation,” he said.
Paola concurred by saying that the street art scene in India is getting bigger. “This is my first time in India. Since I have been here, street art is growing and going really well. Next, I have an art project in Chennai and I’ll be staying for a couple of more months in India. I’ll try to explore as much as I can as there’s so much to see,” she said.
For street art to grow further, Daku stressed the need for festivals like Lodhi Festival. “Street festivals like these are bringing artists together, exposing their art to a wider audience, and it is also something new for the audience. It makes sense to bring both of these things together on a platform. We can all learn from each other. I hope more such festivals happen,” he concluded.
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'Streets are where the people are': Artists underscore the power and potential of street art in India - The Indian Express
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