India’s First Open Air Public Art District
In the heart of Delhi, and encircled by an otherwise lackluster neighborhood, lies India’s first open-air public art district. The mural spectacle in Lodhi Colony has made art accessible to everyone.
“Art has the potential to create a positive impact on a city and its residents, while also paving the way towards making people more conscious about their environment. Through the creation of India’s first public art district, we hope to work with the government on more projects to create a sustainable approach towards the Swachh Bharat Mission,” Arjun Bahl, co-founder and festival director of St+Art India told
As claimed, the first ever Public Art District in India by 'St+Art India' foundation is here in the national capital. Since December 2015, over 25 street artists from India and around the world have been working to re-invigorate the iconic Lodhi Colony area of Delhi.
Under the project cum festival called 'St+Art Delhi', several walls between Khanna Market and Meherchand Market have been turned into a spectacle-- an open air art gallery accessible to everyone.
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The St+Art India Foundation is a non-profit organization
The St+Art India Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to make public art, so it is accessible to a wider audience than art usually is. They organized the St+Art Festival in Delhi’s Lodhi Colony.
Delhi’s Lodhi Colony turns into an art district as 30 artists paint murals, as part of a St+art India project
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In a two-month long street art festival in 2016, more than 20 artists from all over India and across the world displayed their art on the drab walls of government residential buildings in the neighbourhood.
but it’s the first time that street art in India is being given a common platform for expression. Before this, visuals in communal spaces were mostly restricted to inelegant advertising, political propaganda and defacing graffiti.
According to St+art India, the country’s art scene was only accessible to a privileged few until recently and now there’s urgency to change this scenario.
Inside
Pop colours and abstract shapes draw our attention as we walk past modest blocks of shops and triple-storeys with fluttering clotheslines. The art is funky but it also calls out important issues: climate change, marginalised communities, the importance of calling your mum no matter how busy you get.
A quiet revolution has taken over the white walls of Lodhi Colony’s leafy lanes. When the British built the last residential area of Lutyens’ Delhi, little did they know that the symmetrical facades would one day thrill street artists.
The murals were created for the third edition of the Lodhi Art Festival, curated by the five-member St+Art India Foundation and supported by Asian Paints
Their aim is to help make a wider audience engage with art by taking it to the streets, thus creating an “open-air art museum” as co-founder and festival curator Giulia Ambrogi calls it. The festival just got over, but the art is around for all to enjoy. Here are 10 murals for a self-guided walk in Lodhi Colony.
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The 2019 edition of the festival, which began in January, includes pieces from Indian artists such as Sajid Wajid, Sameer Kulavoor and Hanif Kureshi, and international artists from The Netherlands’ Daan Botlek, Singaporean artists Yok and Sheryo, and Japan’s Yoh Nagao, among others.
The paintings are sometimes abstract, sometimes commentary, and often a tribute to the city and the experiences it has offered the artists. But they all have a single aim — to bring art to the people. “Part of what St+art India does is bring art outside the ‘official’ spaces. And there is also the problem of not having enough galleries,” says Ambrogi. “We have so many artists but not enough space for them all. Open-air art like this is one way to showcase their works,” she says.
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Interesting Facts
The area is now so popular that it has started to host famous guests, including the First Lady of France Brigitte Macron.In a two-month long street art festival in 2016, more than 20 artists from all over India and across the world displayed their art on the drab walls of government residential buildings in the neighbourhood.
but it’s the first time that street art in India is being given a common platform for expression. Before this, visuals in communal spaces were mostly restricted to inelegant advertising, political propaganda and defacing graffiti.
According to St+art India, the country’s art scene was only accessible to a privileged few until recently and now there’s urgency to change this scenario.
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Inside
India’s First Open Air Public Art District
Pop colours and abstract shapes draw our attention as we walk past modest blocks of shops and triple-storeys with fluttering clotheslines. The art is funky but it also calls out important issues: climate change, marginalised communities, the importance of calling your mum no matter how busy you get.
A quiet revolution has taken over the white walls of Lodhi Colony’s leafy lanes. When the British built the last residential area of Lutyens’ Delhi, little did they know that the symmetrical facades would one day thrill street artists.
The murals were created for the third edition of the Lodhi Art Festival, curated by the five-member St+Art India Foundation and supported by Asian Paints
Their aim is to help make a wider audience engage with art by taking it to the streets, thus creating an “open-air art museum” as co-founder and festival curator Giulia Ambrogi calls it. The festival just got over, but the art is around for all to enjoy. Here are 10 murals for a self-guided walk in Lodhi Colony.
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Global Going
The paintings are sometimes abstract, sometimes commentary, and often a tribute to the city and the experiences it has offered the artists. But they all have a single aim — to bring art to the people. “Part of what St+art India does is bring art outside the ‘official’ spaces. And there is also the problem of not having enough galleries,” says Ambrogi. “We have so many artists but not enough space for them all. Open-air art like this is one way to showcase their works,” she says.
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HOW TO REACH
Location
Block 15, Lodhi Colony, New Delhi, Delhi 110003
Nearest Metro Station
JorBagh/ INA metro station.
Entry Fee
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The National War Memorial
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