[Reader-list] The Wall Project : Mumbai

Wed Aug 12 15:14:13 IST 2009

1. Graffiti & Slumming Around Chapel Road, Bandra
http://phyre.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/graffiti-slumming-around-chapel-road-bandra/

2. a tribute to our cat, nako.
http://ditikotecha.blogspot.com/2009/03/tribute-to-our-cat-nako.html

3.  painting on the naval dockyard wall
http://mindlessmumbai.blogspot.com/2008/02/blogging-after-5-days-partly-because-of.html

4. ":A roadside art!" on webpage
http://www.celebratebandra.net/news.asp

5. 
Sex on the wall
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/jul/050709-Graffiti-Vandals-vulgar-messages-Sophia-College-South-Mumbai-News-Racial-slurs.htm

6. Forging ind uses wall graffiti to showcase its plight
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/forging-ind-uses-wall-graffiti-to-showcase-its-plight/57671/on

7. 

Graffiti on my wall
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/graffitimy-wall/346913/

8. Graffitifying your community 
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15709241

--- On Wed, 8/12/09, kaiwan mehta <kaiwanmehta at gmail.com> wrote:

From: kaiwan mehta <kaiwanmehta at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Wall Project : Mumbai
To: "Jeebesh" <jeebesh at sarai.net>
Cc: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 2:00 PM

Hi,

I have come to know of the Wall Project only through this email and the
corresponding weblinks. So the following response is based on that.

As much as it sounds good, full of enthusiasm and interesting, and for sure
good willing... there should also be a note of caution, some clarity on the
larger purpose and course of life of such projects and it should encourage
some discussion too.

Some projects are nice when they happen in some and certain corners of city,
just because they work or add some required element of life and urbanity in
some parts of the city - it for sure does not mean duplicating it,
replicating it everywhere and anywhere in the city will make sense.
It would be more interesting to share this concept with people and
participants from different areas - but the same team need not be the main
or central participants or initiators in all the different areas. The team
or group which started this, should not travel with paints and brushes and
their ideas everywhere, they should rather insist only on facilitating
similiar concepts for other interested areas/neighbourhoods and the
people/participants/enthusiasts for/from there.

In the past the city has seen some philanthrophic public art projects and
now we all have to live with them. About 2 or 3 years ago we had students
from the J J School of Art making large sculptures of cows and elephants and
painting them in many different ways and with different graphic themes and
scattering them all around Churchgate station. This was supported by the
Indian Merchants Chambers who was incidentally celebrating their some 100 or
150 years anniversary. There was some discussion on this in the media and
this public art thrust upon us needed more thinking for sure! Luckily the
media discussion in the daily press and in the architecture magazine that I
worked for then had some interesting discussion, and I think it also
dettered the thought of extension of this project to other parts of the city
blindly, by just simply duplicating the same again and again.
It was the same time that one other city philanthrophist visited some port
city abroad, saw some wall painting project there and decided on painting
the walls (sure s/he got them painted by some 'local' artists, did not do it
her/himself) of the port area near Lion Gate - till today we are suffereing
some bad images from a discovered history of Mumbai/Bombay!

Architects, builders, policy makers, and now some 'concerned' 'citizen
groups' are already imposing visual pallettes and their versions of urbanity
upon us... a project like this should not land up adding to the list; in
fact a project like this has the ability to detour some of the visual
menaces otherwise thrust upon us, but this needs thinking and lots of open
discussion, and not one approach, but a range of approches within a
conceptual framework.

At no point I wish to disturb any enthusiasm, or disturb a concept that I
think is interesting - but for sure I feel that this concept should never be
the baby of one group - it is not about sharing the practice but sharing the
concept. The group may say that they are inviting others to participate. No,
that is not what I am talking about. It is not about collaborations, but
completely giving away. The group that started this in Bandra or wherever,
should hand over the idea to other groups or enthusiasts in other parts of
the city, if they are concerned seriously about the city the way they speak
of. They should encourage other groups, to come forward, take the concept,
and then the new group can play around with it as they wish, within the
spirit (not rules) of the concept. This will encourage a range of responses
and ideas - there maybe some failures, dissapointments, etc. But still it is
better than one group steering how the many walls in this city should or
will look.

There maybe people in this city that like blank walls - well if they do
enjoy that lack or colour or texture, let's respect that too!

Thanks for reading...

Kind regards,
Kaiwan

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Jeebesh <jeebesh at sarai.net> wrote:

> The Wall Project : Mumbai (www.thewallproject.com)
>
> Dear All,
>
> A bit about us & the new initiative.
>
> ABOUT
> The Wall Project, a humble project that started out with a few
> enthusiastic people, is growing to be a bigger, better project. It was
> an initiative to add visual elements of colour, form and texture to a
> space, to make the area more alive and generate a feeling among people
> who pass by it daily.
>
> This process allows one to be more observant about the spaces we use
> and move within and how we can use various art forms in the public
> sphere to generate an interest in the minds of our daily human lives.
> The Wall Project in its own way tries to start a conversation, with no
> political or religious attachments.
>
> THE GREAT WALL OF MUMBAI
>
> The Wall Project  along with the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai is
> initiating painting sessions on the Tulsi Pipe Road, stretching from
> Mahim to Dadar running along the Western Railway line in Mumbai.  The
> first phase starts on the 15th -16th August 2009,  0800 HRS onwards.
>
>
> CANVAS
> - look for an arrow indicating the start point on the Walls of Tulsi
> Pipe Road, (closer to Mahim(West) Railway station) And we could begin
> painting in that direction.
> -  it would be nice to come prepared with a thought about what you
> would like to paint and how much wall space you will require.
>
>
>
> HOW TO PARTICIPATE
> - its open to all. show up on 15th/16th August, 08:00am - 08:00pm and
> paint your style.
> - if you are apprehensive about painting all by yourself then you
> could assist people who are painting.
> - you could come as a group (friends, family etc) with hopefully a
> constructive idea and paint it.
>
>
> PLEASE KEEP IN MIND
> * no adverts, no religious writings on the wall, hopefully no
> political slogans, no foul language.
>
> * there is a limited amount of paint supplies on location, so early
> birds...
>
> * being a weekend/national holiday some paint/hardware shops may be
> shut or close shop early, so you would want to check on what you
> require in advance.
>
> ** clean up around you once your wall is complete  J
>
>
> All further updates will be on THE WALL PROJECT group on
> FACEBOOK. :-)       direct link
>
> If you have any queries please do not hesitate to write in at  -
> info at thewallproject.com
>
> Hope to c u there.
>
> The Wall Project Team
>
>
> -----
> www.thewallproject.com
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