Youngsters turn city walls into works of art

Chennai: A bunch of youngsters caught the attention of residents and passers-by at Thirumurthy Nagar in Nungambakkam on Saturday morning when they began to beautify the wall of a house with a work of art.
The team, which comprises college students as well as working professionals, is on a mission to keep city neighbourhoods clean. Dr Eric Miller, a resident of the area, said, "We contacted these youngsters when we heard of their work on social networking sites and they readily agreed to come down to paint."
Eric Miller said that the residents on Saturday were overwhelmed by the gesture of these youngsters that some of them have evinced keen interest to get the wall of their houses painted.
"The Paint Box, which is now known as KRI foundation, is an initiative to spruce up our dirty, spat-upon walls and public spaces. We want to bring out different strokes of art and performance art onto the streets, be it on the walls, bus stops or pavements. This is a fun initiative which hopes to bring together art enthusiasts, public space 'cleaners' and lovers of aesthetics. The love for our city got us to get out and start hands on work in public spaces. Why wait for someone else to make our city beautiful?Our aim is to slowly expand and hopefully inspire people to start owning their surroundings and in turn create a self-sustaining community'' asked B Hariharan, one of the founders and a freelance social worker. Bengaluru based Namrata Ratnam who along with her brother Tejas Ratnam who are among the three founders said ``we got together as we wanted to make a difference clean public places and beautify walls with art. It is a social commitment that we give back something to the city that we live in and the society at large''.
Kanchana Manavalan, a working professional and resident of Thirumurthy Nagar, who was part of the team, said, "The pavements are filled with dirt and kiosks. We want our pavements back since we need to walk on them. I had just circulated the photographs of the team and little ones from the area involved in the painting when I got a call from a friend in Chetpet who wanted to know how to get in touch with these youngsters to paint the compound wall of her house. It is overwhelming to see youngsters spend their time with a purpose and make a difference to society."The same team had beautified walls on the Cathedral Road which otherwise was a sight for sore eyes with political graffiti and film posters adorning the walls.