India’s Banksy uses snails to highlight Bengaluru’s slow traffic

One of India’s most infamous graffiti artists, DAKU, upon deciding that the traffic in Bangalore has become too much to handle, is battling the extreme congestion – with the help of snails.

As part of the St+Art India festival, which started in Delhi but has now made its way to Bangalore, street artists such as DAKU create art in public places, making it accessible to a wider audience.

DAKU, who is sometimes dubbed the Banksy of India, after London’s most famed graffiti artist, looks at art as a means to achieve social change. He uses stencils and cut-outs to protest against moral policing, price hikes, and corruption. He/she chooses to keep their identity a secret, but has taken responsibility for his/her pieces by stencilling his/her name on them.

It’s no secret that Bangalore has a traffic problem; figures estimate that there are over 6 million vehicles in the city and their density is growing by 9% per year. Sticking large paper cut-outs of snails near some of the city’s most traffic-heavy parts is just a simple way to re-emphasize the need to tackle the matter; hopefully, it will also draw a wry smile from the hundreds of commuters who see the snails whilst stuck at those very intersections.

DAKU has also stencilled blooming lotuses over a garbage dump near Brigade Road to indicate that “beauty can be found anywhere – if only one is bothered to look.” He also painted a row of colourful water pots near a single tap, on the walls of the governor’s residence, to highlight the problem of water scarcity.

Source: St+Art India
Source: St+Art India

For updates on the St+Art India’s festival (it is heading to Hyderabad next), follow along on Facebook and to keep track of DAKU’s art, follow the artist on Facebook and Instagram.

Featured image source: St+Art India

Written by Advaitaa Ravi

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