Dibs 132, Akill, Siken02 and Epoch. A year ago, you could see these four names on hundreds of walls across the city of Chennai. Suddenly one morning, everyone woke up to brilliant colourful art around them. It kept recurring. No one knew who was doing it. It wasn’t until the whole city was filled with their work that they had to be found. Working under these pseudonyms, Prasanth Baskaran, Mohammed Aqueel Hussain, and brothers Deva and Veera are a part of The Third Kind, Chennai’s first graffiti crew.
Unlike most other art forms though, “Graffiti doesn’t really have a deeper meaning. Nor does it convey a social message. It is, in a way, narcissistic. We just like to see our names everywhere,” laughs Prasanth.
Not all of their work is completely legal, admits Prasanth, as it involves elements of vandalism, and occupying public spaces. So during their initial days, they had to be really careful. They worked only at night, and were even busted a couple of times. But fame and anonymity don’t go hand in hand, and soon, they had to start taking permission for all their projects.
When questioned about their artistic freedom, Prasanth says, “In a politically sensitive state like Tamil Nadu, there are bound to be limitations. We had a lot of restrictions. We were told that we couldn’t paint anything even remotely related to any of the political leaders.”
Prasanth believes that the hip-hop culture is still very nascent in India, unlike the west. “Graffiti is part of the hip-hop culture. It’s all about the ordinary people and the street life. We hope to bring that culture to the people of Chennai. It’s a good sign that people have been warming up to it. A lot of people are becoming more aware of this interesting culture.”
Apart from painting the city, The Third Kind also spend their time judging art competitions in colleges and conducting training workshops. They often get commissioned to paint in coffee shops and stores. “Now that we work legally, we don’t even have to worry about paying fines,” laughs Prasanth and adds, “We also have money to buy spray cans, which are quite expensive in India.”
Although most of their work has influences from cities like New York and Paris, they are working on creating unique characters, with Indian elements in them.
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