‘Take what you love, pay what you like’

On Saturday, heaps of works created by many artists were displayed on Church Street, on sale on a “take what you love and pay what you like,” basis.

Passers-by spend hours selecting their favourites from the postcards on display. (Photo | Meghana Sastry, EPS)

BENGALURU: A refreshing break for Bengalureans who walked down the 1.5 kilometers stretch on the busiest streets of the city—church street. 

The air was brimmed with joy, laughter, and community collaboration from across the globe amongst strangers who have never met before.

Broke artists’ collective initiated by an architect Yatish VT and his friends inspire from his broke days in June 2016, sitting outside blossoms and selling travel posters has come a long way. The heaps of artwork that was displayed had a special twist to it as most of the art was sold on a “take what you love and pay what you like,” basis. 

Bhairav plays the Didgeridoo a wind instrument developed by the aboriginal people of northern Australia.

Yatish said - "The effort it takes for a person with a regular job to earn Rs.500 a day is the same for a daily wage earner to make Rs.100 a day and one should be able to genuinely appreciate a piece of art, decide its value and pay what one can afford."

The artworks were photographs of many artists who had spent hours together creating those wonderful pieces.

A digital artist creates pieces on her tablet.

Ankita Bhattacharya, a textile designer by profession from Bareilly settled in Bengaluru said said ”This is my first experience where I saw some genuine artists with genuine emotions and no motive behind. It didn’t feel like a business transaction as I could pay what I like.”

The third week of the church street 'First initiative' has been a success with over 1000 people walking stopping by to interact with artists and support the cause.

While the worry could be whether social distancing and usage of the mask was intact, the citizens have put their best game towards abiding by these rules.

The evening got more musical with other musicians joining with their handpan, mouth harp and more didgeridoos. A lot of these instruments were new to the audience who grooved to the music.
 

Though many complained about the inconvenience caused by transport and parking issue leading to slight hindrance in the event. Regardless of the inconvenience and the pandemic scare, this was indeed a very high spirited Saturday. 

Aravind Dev, a filmmaker, and photographer in the collective said he felt magical and turned his day over by playing the Cajon. “It was a paradise,” he said and continued his musical.

Yatish hopes that every city steals his idea and own it with their artists because everyone city deserves it.