KOCHI: Drive by Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal and one is greeted by vibrant messages that leap off its walls. The marine terminal operations magnate has lent the one-kilometre long wall of its Kochi facility for a colourful facelift with the paintings conceptualised by children.Adorned with sociallyrelevant messages on energy conservation, safety, environment protection and other societal concerns, the wall paintings utilise white space effectively.The depictions were drawn by the children from various schools in the port and Vallarpadam areas and were replicated by an artist on the walls. The Kochi holding of DP World is the only terminal of the conglomerate to embark on such an initiative.K K Krishnadas, CEO, DP World Cochin, further elaborates, “Though this project is not directly tagged as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes, but it is our way of communicating with the city. At DP World, following safety measures in all our operations is of utmost importance and we have only extended this statement to the community through the artwork.”He also added that the walls were a source of pride for children in the vicinity as they get to see their drawings with their names and their school’s name everyday.Special care was taken to reproduce the paintings as they were first drawn by the school students and there was no effort to correct errors since this marred the spirit of the initiative, he mentioned. Projects to beautify city walls are one of the existing best practices of city corporations across the country.Mumbai walls were revolutionised by The Wall Project, an initiative powered by people to make open spaces come alive. It was supported by Brihanmumbai Muncipal Corporation (BMC). The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) too had begun an ambitious project in 2009 to paint city walls with icons of local monuments and folklore.In these cities, even many citizen groups have taken up the task to give an extra lease of life to paint-peeled walls through streetart. Graffiti art is slowly paving way for locals as well as tourists to express their perception of the city.For instance, ‘Graffiti Tourism’ which is being promoted in Mumbai in a big way, welcomes visitors to legally paint on the approved city walls. While doing so, they are introduced to the various nuances of the place on a highly interactive level.The wall art not only helps in doing away with dirty public spaces, but also unite people in working towards maintaining a clean environment. It has also been seen that painting of walls discourages people from littering, spitting and pasting posters on public walls that plague the city. Town Planning Officer K S Subhash lauded the idea and said that proposals to paint the city walls will be welcomed.If put in action, this project can turn the city walls into pieces of art.
Comments
0 comment