Spray it, don’t say it

A graffiti workshop held before the pandemic

You can call cave paintings the first kind of graffiti art to exist. For people back then, it was their way of expressing their lifestyle - the animals, their hunting patterns and their day-to-day events. The other prominent development in the field was the New York Bronx graffiti scene, which served as a way for African-Americans to voice their concerns against lack of rights and accessibility to education," says Omkar Dhareshwar, founder of Wicked Broz, an art collective in the city that represents graffiti artists. "It began with kids who created pseudonyms for themselves, and played around with letters on New York's Subway station. It was a way to reclaim their identity and in a way express themselves too," he adds.

Carter with one of his graffiti murals at Model Town, Andheri East

Over the years, Dhareshwar has created a community of 1,000 artists creating public art on spaces like walls and murals in the city. Before the pandemic struck, the organisation routinely conducted workshops that invited the youth to try their hand at graffiti art and its techniques. Tomorrow, they will resume operations for the first time since last year's lockdown, with a similar workshop, helmed by graffiti writer Carter. "The Mumbai graffiti scene has different kinds of artists, like Carter, who have the motivation to beautify public spaces. It's more than just graffiti," explains Dhareshwar.

Omkar Dhareshwar

Carter, the artist helming the workshop, tells us, "I do all styles of the art. I'll be teaching participants the basic fonts, how to create letters and numbers and how to control the spray, even how far to stand from the wall while doing it".

On September 3 onwards
Time 3 pm to 5 pm
Log on to @wickedbroz on Instagram to register
Cost Rs 500