Kolkata to get street art makeover

Kolkata: Eminent painter and Trinamul Congress MP Jogen Chowdhury will mentor a team of popular artists to beautify eight prominent locations and two trams in the city with attractive murals as part of “Kolkata Street Art Festival,” an initiative undertaken by Berger Paints to enrich, beautify and clean the city in a unique way. 

This is the first time that the private company is holding such a festival in Kolkata to integrate and make the cross-section of the society aware through public art. 

The locations where the artworks will be showcased are the Ballygunge Tram Depot wall, the Eden Gardens wall, a wall near Park Circus Tram Depot, a wall at New Alipore (near Suruchi Sangha), a wall near Exide crossing (Calcutta Club wall), Shyambazar metro station wall, Jatin Das Park metro station wall, Central metro station wall and two trams.

At a press meet, CEO & MD of Berger Paints India Limited Abhijit Roy said on Saturday, “In India, street art festivals have taken place across several cities and have become a part of the popular culture. Now it’s time for Kolkata to hold this event in its own unique way. The main objective of this initiative is to make the city cleaner and more stunning. The mission is to paint more prominent walls in the coming few years. We seek to collaborate with local authorities and government bodies to ensure sustenance and cleanliness of these walls throughout the year.”

Mr Chowdhury, mentor of Kolkata Street Art Festival; Debashish Kumar, member, mayor-in-council of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Pratyush Kumar Ghosh, deputy general manager of Kolkata Metro Railways were present at the announcement of the festival.

The festival plans to celebrate the works of 15 admired artists working in various diverse contexts.