Craft of Political Graffiti in Chennai

Street art, with its focus on images and artistry, has become a primary mode of public expression in international metropolises and a global language for citizens to articulate sociopolitical criticisms all the while expressing individual artistry. When one walks through the streets of Chennai, it is hard to miss the street art that colour the walls. From bold Tamil slogans to portraits of politicians, Chennai exhibits a different culture of street art. The concept of street art or graffiti has evolved over time in every aspect. Themes, motivations, mind sets and tools have changed with time. Interestingly, street art in Chennai is a perfect blend of the traditional with the modern and the local with the global.
It is often said that politics is the art and technique of government. Every idea has an intention, similarly political idea also has the intention for implementation, but many people see this with negative mindset. It includes the activities to stay in power or to influence the government policies. It also includes the law- making policies and procedure. Political parties are indispensable for the working of modern democratic governments. The importance of Political parties lies in the fact that democracies cannot function without the existence of political parties.

For years now the canvas of the artist has been expanding. One no longer has to limit oneself to the boundaries of paper or cloth. The walls of the cityscape with their ever-widening horizons have turned into the media on which several artists choose to project their creativity. While there is no formal definition of street art, one can introduce this practice as one where artists leave behind their impressions on walls. Using paint brushes, cans of spray-paint, stencils, fingers, hands, and the like, as instruments, they mark the walls, either casually, or with political intentions; and sometimes the walls simply become an outlet for their creativity. One could associate it with a child doodling on her first blank sheet of paper.

While graffiti has traditionally been highly controversial, the advent of iconographic street art has opened new platforms for international youth to creatively express sociopolitical discontent. Ironically, Indian artists have been using graffiti like techniques for ages, right from store name boards and signages to movie posters and public service announcements, so the actual “influence” per se was to voice opinions about what may be considered taboo in the once conservative society of India. Indian artists such as Daaku, (also known as the Indian Banksy), are inspired to create and voice out common dillemas and current affairs, in public places and more.
Before the age of televisions and broadcast, the sole method of public awareness were wall paintings. With the vibrant and standard party associated colors, the party and the artist intended to create associative cognitive learning from spectating the grafffiti that illustrates the concerned parties colors, representatives name and style  Tamil Nadu Graffiti stands apart from the regular kind globally with its incorporation of typography, colors and visual hierarchy.

The previous DMK-led corporation council spent nearly 4.5 crore to paint nearly 15 lakh sqft of walls with murals depicting among other things rural life, shore temples of Mamallapuram and the Vivekananda Rock. Last year, the AIADMK-led council whitewashed all walls and is now clueless about what to do with them. Earlier, it planned to paint the government’s achievements on them.
But a casual gaze at the abandoned walls, street corners and even the beaches in the city, reveals a colourful blend of political portraits, vibrant graffiti and even modern art, created by those who are mostly called perpetrators of vandalism a.k.a. the street artists of Chennai.
While the poorer neighbourhoods in the city mostly contain political portraits and graffiti, as one moves down south towards the more affluent part of the city, the politicians and their various moods captured on enamel are replaced with spray paintings that are mostly an expression of angst by the angry, young city artist.


In the northern suburb of Ayanavaram, Chennai resides Mr. Kalai Cholai an artist by profession and a philosopher by night. He specialises in the art of wall painting and practises the same without any bias. He is humble, kind and wise as he tell me (an aspiring artist myself) how painting the shabby wall gives him spiritual peace of mind and keeps his skills trained. “Its all about scales” he says.
The design process begins with the client or the company the artist works on a tenure period with a party giving the artist an assigned artwork for a wall along with its dimensions. .Soon after that , the artist plans his scale and and the specifics of the image/ typography to be painted on. According to Mr. Kalaicholai an experienced artist’s sometimes do not use the grid and prefer free hand drawing, however the less experienced amateur artists use the ruler and grid plans to verify scaling.
The artist now evauates and budgetises the project and requests for it followed by receiving the same and spending it on the project. The artist now does a simple white was with putty to get the desired and apt background . They then paint sketch over the background post drying and paint it in. Once the first layer is done, the artist makes necessary changes, color corrections, and gradations .
note: the thickness/ number of coats of paints varies from wall to wall, i.e the grainier, the more layers and graffiti wont be considered as vandalism as long as the owner of the wall is awake and approving of it.