Maqtha Art District
A district with modern art vision officially declared as “The Maqtha Art District” lies next to the historic lake of Hyderabad, Hussain Sagar which divides the city of pearl from its twin city, Secunderabad.
A marvy showcase of contemporary art can be viewed on the prismatic walls of these streets. Maqtha Art District is a bundle of streets modified without any government support by ST+ART foundation in association with Asian Paints.
These streets are third of their kind after Lodhi Art District and Mahim(E) Art District established in Delhi and Mumbai respectively.
Maqtha Art District | Lodhi Art District and Mahim(E) Art District
The Maqtha Art District hiked the attractancy of many world known artists and photographers toward the otherwise dull streets.
The ST+ART foundation had an undulating journey with many hurdles but easy movements as well for executing this project. The District which is being taken by the ST+ART foundation is an already established area with 98% of Muslim residents.
So the first remora was convincing them because they opposed the depiction of any figures on their walls. After a brief period of convincing them by showing the past work and present ideas of how their walls would look like and the hindrance finally vanished.
Telangana tourism support Maqtha Art District
A public artwork company based in Delhi in association with Telangana Tourism and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation supported the project very willingly.
The project of converting the not-so-lively walls into vibrant-looking walls kick-started in 2016. It required 38 artists, including two International Delphine Delas from France and Sadhu X from Nepal.
There were 8 Hyderabad based artists as well. The bunch of 38 artists created 30 murals, each had astounding logical behind it.
The streets which were nameless now have names based on colors. The area is divided mainly into 4 regions i.e. Green Gully, Yellow Gully, Pink Gully and Blue chowk indicated by arrows.
The motive behind the art district is to divert the mind of people towards the world of art. The artwork is being marginalized only to a section of society of rich and elites.
Every child likes to play with colors and to convert this play into something very creative such as exposure to the world of art and artists will democratize the art.
As it included national, international as well as local artists, it could be called colorful, cultural and exchange of creativity at a global level. The walls of Maqtha Art district may also stop people spitting and peeing on the beautiful walls.
Nandita Ratan who gave life to Yellow Gully explained her idea. To her, the narrow lane looked like a tunnel so she painted jellyfishes that float through the walls giving the otherwise narrow street a sashay movement.
Swathy and Vijay, two of the 38 artists depicted the reality of rarity of humanity, They depicted it by painting a peeling wallpaper.
The Maqtha Art District is a perfect example of a famous saying “Art speaks where words are unable to explain”. The complex mixture of brilliantly eye-minded artists, colors, ideas and logic result into a fulgurant world “Maqtha Art District of Hyderabad”.
