Diary notes from Chennai
Art for the public

Our author Faizal Khan has been watching the Graphic Travelogues #Murals project from the beginning. After successfully completing it at the Lodhi Art District in New Delhi, he traveled to Chennai with Aashti Miller and Greta von Richthofen. Here he follows the action on the wall in Kannagi for us.

Day 1:

Artists Aashti Miller and Greta von Richthofen arrive in Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai for the second mural of the Graphic Travelogues Murals project after an engrossing curated walk in Lodhi art district and a packed meet the artists session held at the Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi at the completion of their first mural

Kannagi Nagar, where the second mural will be painted in the next two weeks, is a resettlement built by the government for the survivors of the devastating tsunami in 2004. Fish Out of Water by Miller and von Richthofen is the newest mural in Kannagi art district on the outskirts of Chennai

Kannagi Nagar is named after the central character of an ancient Tamil epic, Silappatikaram (The Story of the Anklet). In the 5th century epic written by poet Ilango Adigal, Kannagi is a fearless woman who fights for the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. The resettlement has 24,000 housing units for its 100,000 people

"The fishing community lost their homes in the tsunami and they moved here into their new homes. The mural is about the idea of displacement and the sense of home," say Miller and von Richthofen who are paying tribute to the resilience and spirit of survival of the residents of Kannagi Nagar

The site of the mural is situated near a main thoroughfare that branches into small lanes leading to the resettlement that is brimming with life. The wall is already given a fresh layer of base paint in blue colour

Day 2

There is an atmosphere of excitement when the two artists arrive at the mural site. A collective shout of "Hi" from the balcony of a nearby house welcomes Miller and von Richthofen. 

The shout is from three girls who are waving their hands animatedly from the balcony. The two artists wave back enthusiastically, saying "Hi" to the young children

Colourful pots containing hibiscus plants aesthetically placed by the residents are seen on the first floor of the three-storey building housing the wall for the mural

"It is easy to blend the colours and objects with blue," says von Richthofen explaining the idea behind the base paint in blue colour

As the sun sets, the artists ready themselves with a laptop for creating the outline of the mural on the wall from a digital sketch using a projector. It is an elaborate process that will take several hours

Day 3:

The mural in Kannagi Nagar will measure 39 feet wide and 43 feet high in the entirety of the wall when completed. That is eight feet higher than the first mural in Delhi

A mix-and-match of different shades is undertaken at the mural site to prepare the paint for the first strokes from the brushes

It is early morning and the artists climb onto the platform of the boom lift. They soon disappear into the farthest corner of the wall to begin painting on the outline created the previous evening

The first colour to appear on the mural is yellow

As the day progresses, a giant whale is visible on the top left corner of the wall.