The streets of Delhi are popping with colour!
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) observed that some of the flyovers and walls in the city are painted in dull colours, and concluded that it possibly gives some residents a free hand to go ahead and dirty them.
Some spit, some urinate, and some throw garbage near these walls. However, would you deliberately ruin a beautiful piece of art? Most probably not.
Going ahead with this reasoning, the MCD collaborated with Delhi Street Art—an organisation that, well, creates street art in Delhi, to restore and beautify some spots.
The artists thus “painted the town red” and in this process, changed the look of the flyover and walls across the old Hanuman Mandir at Yamuna Bazar near Kashmere Gate.
Even the Delhi-Meerut Expressway pillars got beautified in the project.
Speaking to The Better India, Yogesh, the founder of DSA, said, “We have a team of over 300 artists, and while some are professionals, some have taken up art as a hobby. When were approached by the MCD (North Delhi) to help beautify the spaces under the flyover, we jumped at the idea!”
Keeping in mind that they were painting on some of the most bustling streets of Delhi, the team used anti-carbonation paints which will stay strong even with a lot of pollution and moisture (during monsoons) in the air.
They will also keep the whole concrete structure safe, and disallow atmospheric carbon dioxide to seep in through the concrete.
“The Public Works Department has applied anti-carbonation paint as the base on the flyover. We are also using a combination of similar exterior emulsion paints that are weather resistant. The whole idea is to provide exceptional protection to the underlying surface, which will also ensure that the artwork lasts for a while despite the weather, vehicular pollution, and dust,” Yogesh added.
Some of the pictures that the artists chose to paint on the walls and flyovers were depictions from the pages of history—like a king riding an elephant, a queen etc. Since the walls were across the old Hanuman temple, they even painted a large portrait of Lord Hanuman carrying Mount Kailash.
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A resting Buddha, artistic flowers and fish were some of the other paintings. The Maharashtrian art of Warli painting also got a canvas in the national capital.
The majestic artwork will hopefully ensure that passersby have something beautiful to look at and think twice before dirtying these walls and flyovers.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
All pictures courtesy: Delhi Street Art.
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