Wall Art to Teach History

Falah Faisal

Many passing through 80- Feet road in Indiranagar near the Swami Vivekananda Metro Station would have noticed a new set of murals that have popped up on the wall running alongside CV Raman General Hospital.

The wall named Freedom Wall is an initiative by Namma Walls. It features murals of historical figures like Chanakya, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and Maharaja Ranjit Singh besides freedom fighters like Chandrashekhar Azad and George Fernandes with local heroes like Kittur Chennamma, Kempe Gowda and Kuvempu.

The 58 murals also feature iconic movie stars Rajkumar and Puneet Rajkumar. Dushyant Dubey, the creative director of the project said, “We are all IT professionals, I’m in digital marketing, Sameer Kulkarni is a software engineer, and Satyajit Indramohan works at a tech firm. Both of them are native Kannadigas whereas I am from Ahmedabad.”

As a resident of 5th Cross near the wall, he was bothered by how soulless it was. “There is a school here and many children pass by this wall to go to school. I thought it would be good to decorate the wall with some good paintings and murals related to our history and culture.”

“We had a very comprehensive list of freedom fighters but we also made it a point to feature as many local heroes and legends as possible. We wanted to make sure all the people from Karnataka who participated in the Freedom Struggle or have been a part of our illustrious history get their due,” says Dubey on the selection of personalities for the murals.

The project was funded and supported by C V Raman Nagar Assembly constituency MLA S Raghu under the Ministry of Culture’s ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ campaign that commemorates 75 years of Indian Independence. On the importance of knowing one’s history, he says, “People, especially children, these days have lost touch with history. They read about history in textbooks but there isn’t much around them that reminds them of our origins, where they come from, how their country has come to where it is today and who are the people who had put in their blood, sweat, and tears to create this nation we call India. When people grow up with that context missing from their minds they naturally don’t have an affinity towards their country.”

He cites numerous films and TV shows from the past that piqued his interest in history, one among them being Sanjay Khan’s Sword of Tipu Sultan. Yet, Tipu Sultan is missing from the wall painting but it features Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji. Dubey explains, “There are quite a few people who are not a part of the murals because we feel they are already very well recognised. For example, even Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are not featured. In their place, we have forgotten people like Belawadi Mallamma. The whole initiative is focused towards bringing forgotten heroes to light.”

Each mural has a QR code beside it which leads you to encyclopedia pages about each personality. The team plans to add audio narration soon.

A casual observer might notice an overwhelming tinge of saffron/orange among the murals. Was this a conscious decision? “There was no specific intention to do that, because if we were doing that the selection of personalities would have been completely different. If you look at the scientists, academicians, writers that are featured you will notice that there are no political leanings or central themes besides featuring eminent historical figures,” clarifies Dubey.

The project is still a work in progress as only 38 of the proposed 58 murals are complete as Dubey and his team await permission from the Metro authorities.