PURE BANKSY.
And for a while now I've been a tad in love with Banksy. The devilishly good looking man from Bristol. (He remains anonymous but I just have a gut feeling that someone so amazing must be an English version of Brad Pitt.) Banksy makes powerful political statements with spray cans on walls. It's so simple. It's so powerful. It's so illegal. And that's a little bit hot. In fact, I could only love Banksy more if he was Indian. The only thing I love more than a good bit of silent protest and activist style is India. India trumps everything. Even Banksy.But then street art and India collided in a bubble of blissful colours to excite me. Unnaturally.
It started with the embarrassing faux pas of a few overly keen cleaners in Melbourne. Painting over a priceless piece of art. Luckily these people don't moonlight as cleaners at the Louvre. Cleaners painted over a Banksy. The last remaining Banksy in Melbourne town. It was only a rat and lacked any deep political message.. however it was a Banksy. This atrocity even made the news over in my beloved Mumbai in the Mirror: here.
Just when I thought all hope for Melbourne's streets was lost, @vineet1 shared some deity goodness on twitter. He found a fluorescent, kitsch and fabulous ode to Ganesh adorning a laneway in Melbourne.
FLINDERS LANE GANESH LOVE FROM @VINEET1.
And with this Indian afternoon delight fresh in my mind, I adventured out to @acmionline to see Banksy in all his scheming, delightful goodness. If you haven't seen Exit Through the Gift Shop, you need to. It's a rare occasion when I recommend something that doesn't involve Bollywood stars inappropriately thrusting their hips - but even without one of the Khan men, this film is superb. It got me inspired to get out a spray can and adorn the streets. I started thinking how powerful these messages would be if they were focused on issues that people don't think about in their daily drills. Imagine if they confronted passersby and silently evoked a protest from them? Street art could change the world. And it could certainly change India.
C215 WORK IN KAROL BAGH, DELHI.
And then I found someone who was already changing India. It wasn't Banksy. It was (gasp) a Frenchman. C215. Spray can in hand, he travelled off to India to spread his creativity and ideas with the people on the streets.
His work above breaks my heart. I don't know who she is. But I think she represents the millions of child labourers in India. She could be any one of the children living in brothels I met in Delhi. She could be one of the children who wake punishingly early to explore rubbish piles in the hope of finding discarded items that they can resell onto recyclers. Whoever she is, C215 obviously recognises that there are many children in India who live in slavery. Poverty, labour exploitation, poor health. She is staring longingly at the padlock as if willing us to open it for her. It's a tad haunting. And it begs the question, are we going to unlock it for her?
Not all his artwork is so deep. Some pieces are just comical observations of Indian life. But, you should definitely check out his flickr account here.
His work above breaks my heart. I don't know who she is. But I think she represents the millions of child labourers in India. She could be any one of the children living in brothels I met in Delhi. She could be one of the children who wake punishingly early to explore rubbish piles in the hope of finding discarded items that they can resell onto recyclers. Whoever she is, C215 obviously recognises that there are many children in India who live in slavery. Poverty, labour exploitation, poor health. She is staring longingly at the padlock as if willing us to open it for her. It's a tad haunting. And it begs the question, are we going to unlock it for her?
Not all his artwork is so deep. Some pieces are just comical observations of Indian life. But, you should definitely check out his flickr account here.
C215'S WORK IN KAROL BAGH, DELHI
And while I love Banksy and C215, I can't help thinking that what could be really powerful is if local people were given spray cans? Vulnerable people, exploited people - they are often voiceless. Street art could become a platform for their ideas to be spread.
Next time I head to India I'm packing paint.
