Step into the Lodhi art district in Delhi—touted to be the first-ever Public Art District in India—and you would be forgiven for thinking that you are in some Tim Burton film. Vibrant colours splashed across walls, portraits, caricatures, social themes in the garb of gigantic paintings—it’s all here and more. Initiated by St+art India Foundation—an organisation formed on the principle of ‘Art for All’—the
aim is to make art accessible to a wider audience by taking it out of the conventional gallery space and embedding it in the cities we live in.
In the past six years, the foundation has organised 14 St+art festivals and numerous public art projects in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Goa, Kolkata and Chandigarh. Each new edition of festival brings another lot of exemplary work to the public space. In Delhi this year, as part of its Urban Art Festival supported by Asian Paints, they plan on adding at least 20 more murals to the existing ones at Lodhi Road. Responsible for making urban art a movement in India, St+art celebrates the street as a canvas for visual creativity. This year they have come up with ‘F(r)iction at Kona’, a temporary art exhibition with an immersive walk through multimedia artworks by national and international artists.
Polish artist NeSpoon, who is in Delhi for the festival, says, “I feel honoured to present my work between such great paintings of local and international artists. The atmosphere, the vibe of the festival is great. In Europe, street art has been in focus for at least 15 years. I believe, if the pictures of these murals are shared on the internet, it would help popularise the genre.” Singaporean Samantha Lo, aka Sticker Lady, can’t agree more. “I think street art is steadily gaining recognition as an art form and there’s more to come. More walls, more murals, and more colour and platforms such as St+art will inspire not just fellow artists but the community too.”
Indian artists Kiran Maharjan and Sajid Sheikh reiterate that with efforts like these, art is becoming accessible to all. The duo, who are working on their individual murals at the festival, believe that street art is slowly getting its due and there has been a steady shift in how it is seen and accepted. At the end of the day, it is all about democratising public spaces and reclaiming urban areas and in the process reaching out to the community. But they caution that the movement needs to keep going and build forward.
The team at St+art adds, “This year we have built the festival with the Lodhi community at its core, We aim to show how art can be made democrative, accessible, inclusive, uplift communities and above all, celebrate diversity.”