Coimbatore

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Art Districts

Ukkadam Art District

Ukkadam, Coimbatore

2020

‘Ukkadam’ in Coimbatore is a Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board colony which today is home to people rehabilitated from slum areas across the city. The colony’s pedestrian-friendly architecture and its unique context allowed us to set the base for the country’s sixth open-air, public art district starting on four of its facades. Five artists - four national and one international, worked over twenty days in the month of March 2020 to create foundational pieces for this street art gallery.

Architecturally, Ukkadam is made up of multi-storied apartments, all of which bear wide expansive facades, while its streets are pedestrian-friendly and conducive to on-foot commuting. Additionally, the area’s bustling micro-economy - made up of a variety of markets hosted on different days and dedicated to selling different kinds of wares, is sustained by a huge footfall of residents from all over the city. A combination of these factors allowed us to zero in on the locality as the site for the nation’s sixth art district.

Work in progress

Building on the foundational concept of an ‘art district’ - premised on an open-air public art gallery model, the Ukkadam Art District allowed artists to interpret Kovai’s distinct characteristics individually and represent them visually. Everything from Kovai’s birds to its cinema, and its traditions to the intimate habits of the inhabitants of Ukkadam found visual articulation in the artists’ pieces.

The curation (of both artists as well as artworks) sought to establish a different perception of the neighbourhood, making it a space for imagination and discursive dialogues to bloom.

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Chifumi-‘Yoni Mudra’ Hands are used in Chifumi’s work as a signature element. In a similar spirit, his piece in Kovai carries the ‘Yoni Mudra’ - a symbolic hand gesture mainly associated with the presence and activation of feminine power in all humans, purportedly bringing strength and power, like the Shakti goddess. The colours and patterns of the mural are inspired by Coimbatore and its rich traditions, while the Yoni Mudra is Chifumi’s happy dedication to people from the transgender community who live in the building where it’s located.
Amitabh Kumar
Amitabh Kumar-‘Trees of Where’ Migratory birds are an integral part of the ecosystem of Coimbatore lakes and fly around the world inhabiting temporary shelters. In a site that becomes home to a similar community of dwellers, a collective that has been living in temporary shelters and makeshift spaces, this idea of home becomes permanent. Amitabh Kumar’s ‘Trees of Where’ references both the ecological and sociological composition of Coimbatore’s Ukkadam and represents it as a mural. His ‘migratory bird - trees’ represent the moment a community has found its home, and home is where you can lay your roots.
Jeeva and Munir-‘Coimbatore Surrounded by Woods’ A collaborative effort between artists Jeevananthan and Munir Bukhari, ‘Coimbatore Surrounded by Woods’ reinterprets the slowly diminishing tradition of poster-making, bringing its lineage to a contemporary fold - the piece is a 'poster' scaled up into a mural. Featuring a herd of elephants shown in transit, it emphasises and celebrates the forests that surround the city of Coimbatore, and the common sight of elephants often times seen crossing the city! Located in a TNSB colony - a resettlement site, the piece also urges reflection on the concept of movement in general of social creatures - animals and humans alike.

INAUGURATION

On 18th December 2021, after one month of continuous work, Ukkadam was officially inaugurated as Tamil Nadu’s Second art district & India’s Sixth Art District marking a landmark moment in the history of public art in South India.

The ceremony was honoured by the presence of V Senthil Balaji, Minister for Energy, Prohibition & Excise, G Sameeran, IAS, District Collector & District Magistrate, Raja Gopal Sunkara, IAS Commissioner, Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation, M Sharmila, Deputy Commissioner & District Revenue Officer, Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation.

EXPLORE OTHER DISTRICTS:

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Lodhi Art District

As part of St+art Delhi 2016, the Foundation worked in close collaboration with CPWD to reinvigorate the walls between Khanna Market and Meherchand Market, and to convert Lodhi Colony into India’s first Public Art District. The aim of the project was to work closely with government bodies and the community of Lodhi Colony to create art works in public spaces. By the end of the project in 2016, twenty three murals were added to the area. Today, with fifty six and more artworks, the colony is widely recognized as the first open-air art district of the country and the reception received by it in terms of footfall, the number of tours and walks being organised, photo and video shoots taking place, and an increased sense of community pride amongst its inhabitants encourages us to build on the art district every year.

Maqtha Art District

Located next to the Hussain Sagar lake - one of Hyderabad’s prime locations, the Maqtha neighbourhood provided us with the ideal setting to initiate work on the vision of St+art Hyderabad 2016 - to make the city’s public spaces more interactive. 11 artworks were created in the neighbourhood by national and international artists over a month. Upon completion of artworks, the neighbourhood was launched as India’s third, open-for-all, public art district. More artworks were added to the area in the subsequent editions of the festival.

Mahim (E) Art District

In October 2017, the region of Mahim (E) in Mumbai became the launchpad for India’s third open-air, public art district. Encompassing the areas of Dharavi, Matunga Labour Camp and Shahu Nagar - together forming Mahim (E), the art district saw the creation of artworks by national and international artists who used local narratives to inspire their pieces. Artworks in the region were conceptualised and executed with the objective of encouraging the city’s citizens - who generally might not venture into Shahu Nagar and Mahim (E) - to both discover its cultural milieu and get a chance to engage with its people.

Panjim Art District

India’s fourth public art district - the Panjim Art District, was founded in 2017, as part of St+art Goa 2017. Over the years, a diverse set of artists has used distinct stylistic approaches to create pieces inspired by their respective interpretations of the city. Spread across key buildings of the town-centre, today the Panjim Art District has a total of fourteen murals each of which is in a dialogue with the unique culture and ethos of Goa in its own way.

H11235 Reveals St Art Kovai 2018 Pranav Gohil 22

Kovai Art Trail

Under St+art Kovai, the first project involved the creation of a walkable art trail on the Government Art College Road in the city. four artists came together to enliven four different buildings located on the road, with pieces that drew inspiration from both Kovai’s history and its present. Situated in an area that accommodates a high concentration of diverse pedestrians, the pieces were conceptualised so as to be relevant to a large audience - both local and global.

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