Among many things that France and Chandigarh have in common, Le Corbusier undoubtedly stands apart. The master architect, a French citizen, gave the ‘city beautiful’ its shape and character.
To celebrate his work and pay him a tribute, a group of city’s young artistes, Musawar, collaborated with Alliance Francaise and came up with a graffiti which was inaugurated on Wednesday.
The graffiti is themed on the confluence of Indo-French cultural ties. It highlights some of Chandigarh’s prominent urban landscapes, juxtaposed with those from France with Corbusier being the unifying figure.
“The idea was to give the young artistes a platform to showcase their talent. They approached us in February and proposed their ideas. The work on graffiti started on March 28,” said a representative of Alliance Francaise.
In January this year, a group of students joined hands and formed Musawar (an Urdu word for an artiste). Their aim, they said, is to provide common platforms to artistes in the city to work together. Starting with three members, the group today boasts of 13 fellows.
{{/usCountry}}In January this year, a group of students joined hands and formed Musawar (an Urdu word for an artiste). Their aim, they said, is to provide common platforms to artistes in the city to work together. Starting with three members, the group today boasts of 13 fellows.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking on the occasion, Meher Vadehra, a student of MCM College said, “We wanted to give something back to this city and art is the best gift.”
To bring the graffiti to life, the team divided the work based on each member’s core strength. Two of them were instrumental in documenting the entire process through photographs and videos.
“There aren’t many platforms for young artistes in the city. We have to promote our work on our own. Coming together and interacting with others is helping us to enrich our work,” said Tarannum, who works on portraits and pop art, and painted Corbusier’s face in the graffiti.
Isha Bajaj, an economics student from MCM College said, “At present, we are promoting our work on the social media. The response so far has been encouraging. Some offices have also come up with a request to paint walls of their premises.”
On being asked if unlike Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai where street art and graffiti have become quite popular in recent years, is Chandigarh lagging behind, the team said it would be encouraging if more urban spaces are open for experimentation with art.
“In Delhi, not only the student areas but even other public spaces are increasingly being decorated with graffities. In Chandigarh, local markets, Sector-17 market, Punjab University, schools and other public spaces should embrace art to beautify the city further,” they asserted.
So what’s next on their card? The team said they are yet to take a call. “It will be something on art and beauty,” one of them gently quiped in over a laughter.