The great walls of Kathmandu: Layered many times over

KATHMANDU, : Swiftly moving hands, darting paintbrushes, and lo, within a few hours the dull, unattractive boundary wall of Tri-Chandra Campus is transformed into a colorful and beautiful piece of living art, thanks to the efforts of Artudio and The Image Park. On September 16, Artudio and The Image Park commemorated the Global Hand Washing Day by painting the outer wall of Tri-Chandra Campus.  Organized in association with UNICEF, Pashupati Paints, Laxmi Cares, and Chaudhary Group, the main focus of the event was to raise awareness and to turn the 450-meter-long canvas into a beautiful work of art. The participants were a group of 400-odd students, along with professional artists and volunteers. The students toiled away all day, braving the heat and the dust and the unpredictable rains, to paint the wall. These students, for whom art is usually outside their grasp since it is conspicuously absent from our school curriculums, were excited as well as exhilarated with their achievement. An opportunity like this, to actually do art and contribute to a worthwhile cause, must have been like a dream come true. And the students contributed enthusiastically, resorting to even using their hands to paint. No heed was paid to the fact that there was paint on their white shirts, on their shoes, or even in their hair. All in all, the effort put in and the work done by the students was commendable. It is there for anyone who is interested to go look at the Tri-Chandra wall. But wait a minute. You can’t. I was utterly dismayed and disheartened when I took my friends there to show our handiwork. Alas! Only half of the artwork remained! No, the rain hadn’t washed it away, nor did anyone paint over it. Unfortunately, it had been covered with identical posters of the recently released movie “Acharya.” The wall of Tri-Chandra was free, so some people decided to stick their posters, covering the art in the process. Firstly, it begs the question: What was the need to paste five identical posters next to each other? And second, why cover the art? Certainly, there is no dearth of empty walls or electricity poles in Kathmandu. How can we be so insensitive to the rights of others in the name of advertising? In our country, the outer section of a boundary wall – be it private or public – is considered to be everyone’s property that can be filled with any graffiti or pamphlets. Numerous times I’ve come across walls where probably the hapless owners have stuck notices like “Sticking graffiti is not allowed on this wall.” However, this does not deter the perpetrators; so posters and slogans and pamphlets keep being put up wherever the people in question consider it suitable. Another train of thought comes along. A wall is public space. It’s neither yours nor mine. The students, in a joint effort, gave a gift to the nation, both in terms of artistic and visual value. Since a wall is public space, entrepreneurs should not be using it to further their own personal motives. Public spaces should not be hoarding boards for businesses. They should not be the bearers of slogans of political parties. But who it is that we turn to? Who should be responsible for maintaining public spaces? Let us consider the fact that both movies and paintings are art. The whole purpose of movies is for people to watch and appreciate their art. However, if they cannot show appreciation for the art of others, how can they expect people to appreciate their own art?