Kolkata’s Street Art / Wall Art / Graffiti: Be Amazed!

The Kolkata street art scene is intriguing, to say the least; as intriguing as the entire concept and evolution of the street art across the globe. I took an interest in this after I came across the Kolkata Street Art Festival and had set out to find different such pieces across the city.

The street art across the globe has evolved from being the political or social commentary to being just a pretty background for one’s selfies. In Kolkata, you might find various forms of street and wall art; from the narrow lanes to the broad roads, from college campuses to the garage interiors; art that’s a revolt to Batman! From spray paints to water colour or even pencil sketches, Kolkata’s street/wall art scene is exciting.

This blog post is an attempt to only document the wall painting. I thank my friends who took part the discussion and helped me locate areas here. It is an ongoing project and I would keep adding newer images here. So, please keep coming back to this space?

Previously photographer Pritam Dutta tried to document Kolkata’s street art. His work can be seen on his Instagram account and his documentation can be found on ScoopWhoop.

A lot of Kolkata’s attitude towards life is exhibited through this art; the language of this art is stronger and louder in the campuses and that speaks about a range of issues. It becomes surreal and all intriguing in the narrower lanes while at times, it just looks pretty to look at. Here are some photographs.

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This is a welcome break from many things – the stereotypical monotonous walls of the streets or perhaps what we have grown up knowing as street art – political graffitis.

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Updated 2020 January:The following photographs are shot by Bodhisatta Singha Roy It is in the form of  a slider, so please scroll to your right or left to navigate. Do follow Bodhisatta and his work by clicking on the link to his profile!

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Street Art also includes street installations and sculptures, both of which are not included in this blog post although Kolkata has plenty of it, especially in the newer Rajarhat and Salt Lake. Somewhere beyond definitions, THIS also forms street art.

Or perhaps when someone decides to colour the trees inside the Victoria Memorial Hall campus.

Street Art has been used very skillfully by Kolkata based artist Leena Kejriwal in her project M.I.S.S.I.N.G. to raise awareness of the number of girls that go missing from the cities, on the issue of sex trafficking. If you are in Kolkata, I’m sure you’ve seen one of these:

And this is just a bit of what I’ve discovered in this city. I’m sure there’s more. Berger Paints is organising a beautification project “Kolkata Street Art Festival”, spearheaded by ace artist and TMC MP Jogen Choudhury. This event plans to paint around 500 walls across the city; 10 walls minimum by August end.

I’m sure this would encourage more households to let more artists treat their exterior walls as their canvas, create art, express. Towards an artistic future, dear Kolkata – all the best.