Normally, we associate graffiti artists with cities like New York, Paris, London, etc., but here in Kolkata, there seems to be a new genre of graffiti artists, who have taken the responsibility to cover the dull moss-laden walls.
Graffiti is so much more than a set of colours thrown together. It is a form of art, an expression that means different things to different people. There are many places in Kolkata where we can see various types of graffiti.
Recently, Kolkata Port Trust, with some young budding street artists, has taken the responsibility of colouring the Ganga Ghats of Kolkata, along with the street walls.
Goutam Chakraborty, Security Adviser, and Coordinator Heritage of Kolkata Port Trust said, “We must encourage our young budding artists and should help them in this form of art”. We have coloured Bagbazar Ghat, Annapurna Ghat, Kumortuli Ghat, Motilal Sil Ghat, and in the future, we will colour more ghats of the city.
“This art is mainly done to maintain the aesthetics of the city. Besides this, the graffiti that we are creating is helping in the beautification of the city”, he added. You can find various types of graffiti on streets like Sudder Street, Elgin Road, North Kolkata, Beni Nandan Street, Kankurgachi, Park Street, Khidderpore; even the ‘open electricity boards’ have been coloured.
The walls of Eden gardens have been coloured because of the Historical “Pink ball Test”. More than 45 students of Indian Art College and Government art college joined hands to hand to colour the stadium.
Here are some more pictures of the graffiti across Kolkata:
Photos credits: Tirthankar Das, Sammya Brata, Deepbrata Dutta