Look, the painting’s finally on the walls

Could it be true? The city’s public walls are being dressed up in robes of colour? Well, if the BBMP’s new initiative is anything to go by then true it certainly is. The corporation has given over the city’s walls to a team of artists, hoping that the images on them will deter those who feel a wall’s primary use is as a urinal.
But hidden within this artistry is a photographer’s muse. Those of us who have spent time on the streets photographing the city, as it went from sleepy town to bustling metropolis, have watched the imagery change, but not get more vibrant. Shades of green have given way to the harsh greys of the concrete jungle and all its structural trappings. It is in that light, that this new initiative is so appealing. Colour is making a comeback into our lives.
In 2003, when I was working with an leading Bhopal-based English daily, the then district collector, Anurag Jain, began a similar move to paint the city’s walls with civic awareness messages. The seed had many takers, but after he moved on the ides was shelved, for reasons best known to the white-collared officers.
In Bangalore, the message on the walls will be religious and also feature scenic spots promoting tourism, rather than conveying a social message. While in Bhopal, school children were given free paints and brushes to showcase their artistic talent, here the BBMP has tied up with the Ken School of Art for the talent.

Picture courtesy - Anantha Subramanyam K. DNA

Most of the artists working on the walls are those who have lost their jobs to under the wheels of the modernisation juggernaut. They were the ones for whom computers never replaced oil paints, and whose talents can only be seen in the huge film cut-outs and billboards, that met their demise nearly a decade ago.
It is nice of the BBMP to use this artistic talent for civic use, but I would have been happier had the message been social rather than touristy. It will also add more value if the BBMP thinks on the lines of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation to induct children artists to do the work on these larger than life canvases, thus ensuring that the future generations are expose to public art.
But all said and done, the present BBMP commissioner’s decision to make the erstwhile ‘Garden City’ look presentable is commendable. One only hopes that his successor does not shelve the idea. After all not only does it benefit the lay passer by, but also helped those in my profession cut through the drab days with a splash of colours and ray of art sorely missing form modern day life.