Gandhi Mural at ITO

Delhi Police Headquarters, ITO, Delhi

2014

In January 2014, as part of the St+art Delhi festival, the Delhi Police Headquarters became the site for an unprecedented collaboration between a government body and street art.

Gandhi at Delhi Police Headquater Hendrik ECB Start Delhi 2014 6

The enormity and scale of the project required the tallest industrial crane available in india to complete it. Photo : Enrico

While work continued in Shahpur Jat and Hauz Khas Village as part of the St+art Festival, Hendrick and Indian artist Anpu began work at the Delhi Police Headquarters located at the ITO intersection in New Delhi.

Gandhi at Delhi Police Headquater Hendrik ECB Start Delhi 2014 7

The mural was finished using only a small postcard-sized image as a reference. The sourced image belonged to a German collection who licensed the image to the Foundation. As 26th January approached, which is India’s Republic Day, Hendrick and Anpu painted as rehearsals for the Republic day parade took place under them. Working 12 hours daily from 5 am to 5 pm, they completed the mural in 5 days. Photo: Akshat

The facade was situated across the road from a mosque whose roof offered the best vantage point for the artists to take stock of their progress. During every break, Hendrick and Anpu would discuss their next steps over a cup of tea on the roof of the mosque.

Gandhi at Delhi Police Headquater Hendrik ECB Start Delhi 2014 4

Photo: Enrico

Gandhi at Delhi Police Headquater Hendrik ECB Start Delhi 2014 11

This monumental work is symbolic in more ways than one. Once finished, the piece stood 152 feet tall and was widely recognised as India's tallest Gandhi mural. It also represented a significant step forward in terms of cultural engagement between art and the government. It proved that Indian public institutions are forward-thinking and appreciate the value of art as a catalyst for relevant public discourses.

Gandhi at Delhi Police Headquater Hendrik ECB Start Delhi 2014 1

On January 30, 2014, the then Lieutenant Governor of New Delhi, Mr. Najeeb Jung inaugurated the Gandhi mural.

Making of the Gandhi mural

EXPLORE OTHER DISTRICTS:

Dadasaheb Phalke mural

The city of Mumbai is synonymous with Bollywood. Yet very few people know about the origins of this industry. Ranjit Dahiya from the Bollywood Art Project paid a fitting tribute to the father of Indian cinema – Dadasaheb Phalke. The giant yellow mural stretched across 120x150 foot on the city’s iconic MTNL building. Dahiya’s mural, finished in collaboration with Indian artists Yantr, Munir Bukhari and Nilesh Kharade, was inaugurated by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan and advertising maestro Piyush Pandey on December 11, 2014.

Mahatama Gandhi at Churchgate Station

Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra adapted a photo of Mahatma Gandhi alighting from a train into a mural at one of Mumbai’s landmark locations - the Churchgate Railway Station. Part of his global Faces of Peace project, he dedicated his work at Churchgate as a tribute to Gandhi’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle and his significance globally. He hoped that the mural would convey a message of peace and harmony and encourage people to imbibe the values the Mahatma stood for.

Shilo Shiv Suleman’s Mural in K.R. Market

The K.R. market (also known as City Market) is one of Bangalore's oldest markets. It sells all kinds of wares, but is considered to be one of the biggest flower markets in Asia. In this Flower Market, seeing men weaving, measuring and selling flowers is a common sight. Reading it as a beautiful instance of subversion of normative masculinity, artist Shilo Shiv Suleman chose the market as the setting for a mural.

Haus Khaz

HKV has been an integral part of the Graffiti movement of New Delhi. A vacant lot within the market is well known as the ‘Wall of Fame’ of the graffiti scene here becoming a must visit site for local and travelling artist to leave a tag behind.

Delhi

Landmarks