KOLKATA: A group of artists, in collaboration with West Bengal Transport Corporation, is set to change the cityscape by painting bus and tram depot walls on myriad themes, adding colour to mundane streets.
“People often spit on the walls of our depots and deface them. It looks bad. The graffiti would lend an arty touch to the art capital of India and maybe, discourage people from spoiling the walls,” said Rajanvir Singh Kapur, MD of WBTC, which is leading the campaign, ‘Colours of Kolkata, #coloursofkolkata,’ to celebrate the diversity of Kolkata this Independence Day. “In future, eminent artists of Kolkata will be invited to help create public art at prominent locations to make the city even more beautiful.”
The campaign has started off with remembering Tagore and Ray on their 160th and 100th birth anniversaries. Graffiti, representing their lives and works, is being painted on the wall of the WBTC tram depot at Park Circus. The next locations in line are the Tollygunge depot, opposite Tolly Club, and the Gariahat depot near Ballygunge Phari. Those involved in the project hope to cover most of the walls by Durga Puja.
The first two art work have been curated by WBTC, in collaboration with a city-based art campaigner, Mudar Patherya, and his group. “The objective of #coloursofkolkata is to utilize the public walls to send out the message that Kolkata is artificially and aesthetically one of the most vibrant cities. I am thankful to WBTC for giving me this opportunity. The movement is intended to invite artists to help put the city’s best face forward,” said Patherya.
