The defaced worli art form on the 1,000-ft-long compound wall along the busy Hampankatta Road is giving way to paintings showing kambla, car festival of Venkataramana Temple, Mangaluru’s coastline, and messages to keep Mangaluru clean.
Artists associated with Ramakrishna Mutt are giving a facelift to the compound wall to mark the celebration of the 200th Swachh Mangaluru campaign of the mutt to be held on February 12. The mutt relaunched the cleaning campaign on October 2 in which 60 teams are involved. Every Sunday, 10 teams take up the drive in 10 different locations. With the activities on February 5, the Swachh Mangaluru campaign has been done in 206 locations.
A team of 25 artists led by Shailesh from Aaditatva Arts are working to give a new look to the compound wall along Hampankatta Road.
Apart from presenting kambla and kooli anka (cock fight), the paintings will present messages related to education and about the objective of Swachh Mangaluru. The paintings on the compound wall of Government Wenlock Hospital will be on health. Shailesh said prime colours are being used to make the paintings more appealing.
Eekagamyananda, convenor, Swachh Mangaluru campaign, said giving a facelift to the walls along the busy roads is the best way to express seriousness of the residents of Mangaluru in keeping the city clean.
This is also a way for artists, who are associated with Swachh Mangaluru for several weeks, to display their art. These artists are giving a new look to the Kottara flyover too, he said.
The Swachh Mangaluru campaign has attracted many youngsters and thereby inspiring them to work for society. “We hope this cleaning drive sends a positive image of city that is in news for wrong reasons,” he said. Actor Nana Patekar will attend the celebration on February 12, he added.
