KATHMANDU, March 24: There’s propaganda on Kathmandu streets. This or that political party is always calling for some or the other of their programs to be made successful. There are sleazy film posters advertising their cheesy stories. Written on the walls of Kathmandu, mostly, is a side of the city that most of us probably don’t want to be representative of this place that has become home to us. [break]
But that is slowly changing. Mural by mural, brushes and rollers are becoming weapons of mass creation; artistic minds are coming out to turn the entire walls of Kathmandu into their canvas.
(Photos courtesy: Kolor Kathmandu)
Giving a huge boost to the nascent street art scene of Kathmandu, Kolor Kathmandu, a year-long project by Sattya Media Arts Collective and funded by Prince Claus foundation from Netherlands, aims to transform the face of the city with artistic hues that can truly become a representation of the ‘new’ and young nation that Nepal is emerging to become.
The project engages young local artists as well as international artists to create 75 murals, each representing the 75 districts of Nepal. “We want to bring elements from all the districts to Kathmandu so that it can be a true representation of the capital,” states Yuki Poudyal, the Director of Kolor Kathmandu, who wants the project to be bigger than the organization that it started through. She believes that, “If we do this right, street art can rebrand Kathmandu and be a place for art tourism.”
As Shraddha Shrestha, one of the artists in the project, talks about what she’s been doing with Kolor Kathmandu, the dabs of yellow, blue and red on her fingers and hands do a little dance of their own. Shrestha has already finished a mural on Bajura district on the wall of St Xavier’s College in Maitighar and is now working with Red Zuan from Social Creatives, a community arts organization in Singapore, to create another mural based on Lamjung.
Shrestha who has always been a street art enthusiast, joined Kolor Kathmandu as it was a platform to be involved with other artists and to create work based on a local theme. “Plus, we’re getting paid for every mural. We usually don’t get paid to do street art, here,” she adds.
“People in Kathmandu are still only into traditional forms of art and while painting in different places, I get asked about the philosophy behind it,” shares Shrestha. The fact that street art allows a larger public access is one reason why she’s drawn to this medium of expression. “A wall is just another medium for creation. Like a canvas or a piece of paper,” she says.
Zuan, who is collaborating with Shrestha, and is an artist, who has been involved with this form of art for the past four years, comes from Singapore, “Where the street art scene is pretty huge for a small country like ours,” he says. For him, street art is awareness that art exists everywhere and anywhere.
Another aspect of this project is that it brings international names in the street art scenario to Kathmandu to collaborate with local artists and to create art related to Nepal, in their own unique artistic voices.
Yes, the murals will be representative of the 75 districts but the individual interpretations and voice of the artists will also be fused into these works or art. Anish Bajracharya, who is a Graphic Communication major from Kathmandu University Center for Art and Design, is at work at a wall opposite the basketball court in Bhanimandal with Thaib Abdul Wahab, another representative from Social Creatives. Together they are making, what, in its initial stage, looks like a strawberry and raspberry flavor-coated doughnut.
This is Bajracharya’s literal interpretation of Bara district with a modern twist.
‘Bara’ for him also means a Newari lentil patty dish. He has brought this interpretation of his, together with the tradition of Gadhimai festival which takes place in Bara, once in five years. The Gadhimai festival involves what is considered to be the world’s largest animal sacrificing event. “I wanted to include Gadhimai in my mural but I didn’t want it to be so gruesome. So I’m creating a more surreal scene, using a lot of candy colors but still touching upon this intense subject matter,” puts Bajracharya.
His want to paint big things and to not limit his work inside galleries, is what got Bajracharya into street art. The mural he is currently working on is about three stories high and will take around three days to finish. “You see film posters and political slogans on the streets, which are not beautiful at all,” he says, adding, “Street art like this can even become a landmark. Some people even click photographs in front of them, like it were a monument.”
One third of Kolor Kathmandu has already materialized on the streets of Kathmandu, from locations such as Dillibazaar to Sankhamul. Negative, positive or mixed comments, whatever they might be, if not provoke a thought in your mind, these street arts and wall murals will definitely catch your eye, at least once.
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