Capital city Delhi has much to offer in terms of culture, food, fashion, but who had thought of an open art gallery?? No, correct! India introduced its first ever open-air art district in the year 2015, located in the middle of Lodhi Street, right at the Lutyens Bungalow Zone.
It was named after the famous British architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, responsible for building housing estate and architectural design in the areas of New Delhi, during the British Empire. The colony was the last estate build by Lutyens.
Even now, in this century, the pedestrian-areas at Lodhi Street have wide roads and plenty of open spaces, that made it an easy choice for the St+Art India Foundation, for its mission to bring art out of museums and make it accessible to the public.
The Large white walls suddenly turned into a canvas for 50 renowned street artists across the globe, to transform the government colony into an open art gallery. Every wall became the medium to share a story about history, modern society, and global causes. People walking past the pedestrian lane of Lodhi Street, can observe the Graffiti with messages from women empowerment to climate change.
Many murals are grabbing the eyeballs, inspired by patterns of lace, selfies, everyday scenes, to tribute to the city and its experiences. Each artwork has been given unique themes like Gupt Dwar, Fusion Art, Lavanya, Dead Dahlias, and is now visited by the local folks as well as the international tourists.
Since 2015 the Lodhi Street Festival is celebrated every year. The experiment started with three-wall Graffiti, to explore the possibilities with open art concept. In 2016, they added 25 more murals to the art district. Every year, St+art India Foundation is expanding the art representations with a single aim to bring people closer to art.
The last edition of the Festival, in collaboration with Asian Paints, initiated a campaign called ‘Donate a Wall’, where they requested locals to donate their exterior wall, in contribution to beautifying the city’s landscape. St+art India is bringing art from official spaces to open-air illustrations, to showcase the work of several artists who are straggling due to the shortage of space.