Seen live murals on some parts of the city recently? The banner artists behind these public art projects are now turning the walls of North Chennai into their canvases.
On the cylindrical front of a former cyclone shelter in Thiruvottiyur, a scene unfolds: smiling fishermen, some stewards and others holding their haul baskets, invite you into the frothy ocean.
The vast sea meets the cloudy sky reminiscent of a simpler, happier time. The two-storey building of about 17,000 square feet, where the Ennore Express Road meets the Kathivakkam High Road, is now a canvas.
The debris that once surrounded this shelter has now disappeared; And so are the empty wine bottles. cut Manali, and a therukuthu The artist looks at the distance from the campus wall of the bus terminus.
These are just some of the new canvases that North Chennai is now home to. As part of the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Singara Chennai 2.0 initiative, which sees several beautification drives across the city, this wall art project, fueled by CSR initiatives, is a work-in-progress.
artist? Chennai’s own, born out of a forgotten practice called banner art.
Victory work in front of the former cyclone shelter and Amma Unavagam building in Kathivakkam. photo Credit: special arrangement
Helmed by JPK Vijay, this team of actors, who have faced hardships for a few years due to the pandemic, has worked on the facade of Chennai Primary School, Manali; Manali Bus Terminus; Madhavaram Roundabout and Pre Cyclone Shelter / Amma Unavagam, Kathivakkam. The broad theme of these murals points to the culture of Tamil Nadu.
“The first site I found was the Amma Unavagam building (cyclone shelter) and I wanted it to be one of a kind. I wanted to use art to spread awareness. I took inspiration from the area and depicted the fishing community that forms the heart of Ennore,” says Vijay.
He recalled the outrage from the local community when he started work. “But as soon as we started painting, they got curious and wanted to help us. It has now become a special place for them to preserve,” he says, adding that his success lies in how the artwork indirectly helped bring about behavioral change.
“We are looking for sponsors for landscaping and fountains at the entrance of the building, benches and toilets for senior citizens. Wall art is only a part of the planned beautification for the project site,” says R Jayakumar, assistant executive engineer, Zone 1, Kathivakkam. “We want the public to benefit from this.”
A group of children in uniform play a hot game on the walls of the compound of Chennai Primary School, Manali game of tip Cat. “likes the game gilia remain forgotten. Children don’t know about them anymore,” says Vijay.
On the other hand, at the bus terminus, therukuthu takes center stage. the fact that therukuthu Not depicted as often as other traditional artworks such as Silambam Which inspired him to choose the folk form.
On another plastered wall, stone sculptures from Mamallapuram blend seamlessly onto the facade’s texture. “When it comes to the Madhavaram roundabout, which was a small venue, we thought of portraying traditional foods,” says Vijay.
nurture local talent
What sets these murals apart is their realistic depiction of people: familiar faces that demand an immediate, rather personal connection to a passerby. This life-like quality is an offshoot of the artists years of experience with hand painted boards and cine banners.
This expertise with banner art, which uses emulsion paints and acrylics, helps them move faster from wall to wall. A public art project usually takes two weeks to months to complete, but some of these walls were built in a day’s time.
“Wall art is also eco-friendly. Flex prints, for example, leave a huge carbon footprint. Now after seeing such works the public is also slowly moving towards hand-painted boards, banners and walls,” says Vijay.
Due to the digital shift and flex culture, most of the banner artists lost their livelihood in the noughties. Hand-painted boards ensuring the employment of many small-scale artists were the norm until that time. Vijay’s father JP Krishna, president of the Indian Artists Association was one of them; A pioneer in cine banner art in the 1990s.
“Chennai had lakhs of artists who lost their jobs when flex printing was taking over,” says Vijay. “They went on to other jobs as security personnel and carpenters.”
Singara Chennai 2.0 is a revival, and a tribute to his brilliance.
The next location of victory for the city will be the one kilometer long metro near the RBI building and the secretariat. “The walls and ceiling will be inspired by the wall paintings inside the Brihadeshwara Temple gopuram, which gave rise to the Tanjore style of paintings,” says Vijay.
They say that the biggest advantage of such beautification projects is the scope of employment, especially for those belonging to the widely affected art sector.
“Many of the large scale artworks we see at Indira Nagar MRTS and Kannagi Nagar are by artists from India and abroad. There is talent here in our state, but we do not use them,” he says.
A silver lining to these projects is that the Greater Chennai Corporation is identifying local, up-and-coming artists from each region to beautify their own localities.
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