India-France ties continue for the street art works in Indian cities

Even as French President Emmanuel Macron visits India for diplomatic meetings, a colourful yet equally important conversation is unfolding across the country. In 15 cities, French artists have been engaging with local communities, aiming to turn cultural and social spaces into meeting grounds where India and France connect through art and culture.

President Macron's visit to Mumbai coincided with the artist Siddharth Gohil painting a mural on the walls of St. Mathews High School & Junior College in the city on February 17. Located in the heart of the busy and chaotic Malvani area of Mumbai, where many students from underprivileged and undereducated backgrounds study, the wall mural has come alive under Wall Art India's fifth edition, led by the Alliance Française network in India, in collaboration with the Embassy of France and the Institut Français.

Gohil, a Baroda-trained artist who is known for his bold, meditative murals that blend typography, abstraction and the raw textures, has created a playful typographic composition on the school’s boundary wall, where the mural features three words in Devanagari and English, rendered as bold 3D blocks that resemble children’s building blocks. "These blocks symbolise....Prakriti (Nature), Shiksha (Education), and Shakti (Strength)," he says. 

The street art movement

The selection for this school, along with other NGOs and organisation has been conscious as well, as Alliance Française Bombay's Executive Director, Laurent Vergain, shares, talking to Local Samosa. "We partnered with Life Project 4 Youth, which works towards developing innovative solutions for the comprehensive professional and social inclusion of young adults, particularly women aged 18 to 24, who are living in situations of extreme poverty and exclusion," he says, adding that the organisation helped in selecting schools and spaces for the mural painting.

Since 2021, the similar editions have transformed city walls into open-air galleries deeply rooted in local neighbourhoods, and designed to remain part of the urban landscape long after the festival ends. This year, three artists from France, along with Gohil, have been working for cities like Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Bengaluru, and others.

On Indian culture being the focus, Gohill shares how in his artwork, the typography draws from the visual language of Indian signboards and street lettering, something that has consistently influenced my practice.

 "What makes this edition distinct is its focus on 'Women, Horizons, and New Voices in Urban Art', a theme that foregrounds representation, dialogue, and fresh perspectives in the public art space," Mr. Vergain adds about the festival, which is ongoing till March 9.  

Wandering before painting walls

One of the artists, Audrey Dey, who has been using the intense palette of colours and symbols to convey the energy of women and their power of resilience, has been exploring Pondicherry and starting work in the city, as we speak. Before this, she created three collaborative murals with over 100 people, including schoolchildren, students, and residents, on the theme surrounding women's empowerment in sports, with a very green, flowery, and natural setting.  

In Pondicherry, Dey will create a phrase, "Alliance Française, from Pondicherry, my darling" to celebrate the art of lettering, as she says. Talking about India, she says, "I have known India through my heritage without ever having set foot there before. I come from Réunion Island, where our people and our history are rooted in several cultures, including that of India. We have a large Indian community, and I myself have roots there."

Another French artist, Olivier Poizat, who is currently working in the cities of Pune, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Bengaluru, says that there has not been any specific brief given for the artists. "The main objective is simply to create a connection between France and India." Even for this artwork that he is working on, he will be doing what he always does - observing the world around him, and drawing inspiration from the country’s values and culture. "I try to interpret them through my own vision," he says.

Amidst environmental and logistical challenges 

However, this was not to say that creating the colourful movement has been easy for the artists. Talking to Local Samosa, Gohil says, "The major challenge in executing this mural has been the time constraint and the physical environment. The school is located in a narrow lane with constant movement — people, vehicles, and noise throughout the day. Navigating this chaos while maintaining precision in typographic forms has been demanding, but also energising," he says, adding, "Completing large-scale works within limited days always requires intense focus and efficiency."

Similarly, Audrey Dey, who usually uses spray paint exclusively, has been adapting to acrylic paint since the former is not available. "..Painting without spray paint or my usual materials, which means stepping outside my comfort zone," she says, however, adds that she is learning all this way. "The colours are very dynamic and intense (red, yellow, green, blue...), they blend together and create a very playful result."

Navigating these, however, both Indian and international artists are focused on the inhabitants, the challenges of the region, and the environment in which the artworks will be created, for the Indian culture to occupy a central place in the works, with a tint and fragrance of France.