Kannagi Nagar Art district off OMR- Beautiful wall paintings in Chennai
Recently my facebook wall exploded with people posting pictures of walls of Kannagi Nagar.
Kannagi Nagar is a lesser know locality in Chennai, located off OMR (Old Mahabalipural Road) or now called Rajiv Gandhi Salai aka IT Corridor. Kannagi Nagar was set up post Chennai Tsunami to rehabilitate those who lost their homes. Kannagi Nagar has dozens of apartment complexes with hundreds of low cost homes in them, given to poor people who lost their everything due to Tsunami.
The otherwise ignored locality is now in limelight, thanks to colourful wall paintings all over. Take a look at these pics.
The black and white kids smiling photo is probably the most captivating one. It is visible from a distance as you enter Kannagi nagar area and immediately draws you towards it.
Painting in progress.. Should revisit after a month or two to check recently added paintings.
Looks like the wall on left is yet to be painted.
Below: A girl's face, shattered.
Awareness about wearing masks?
Below area- was probably meant to be a market place?
More paintings
Recently few organizations came together to paint the walls of Kannagi Nagar. ST Arts, Asian Paints are the few organizations working to bring together reputed painters and make them draw murals on the wall.
However, while the walls are all decorated and made beautiful, the slum like locality can do with better infrastructure, awareness and hygiene.
How to reach Kannagi Nagar?
Kannagi Nagar is located about 2 kms off OMR near PTC Colony bus stop. If you wish to try public transportation, Kannagi Nagar has several buses from central, Koyambedu etc. If you don't get direct bus take any bus that passes through OMR (102, 95, 19B etc) and get off at PTC Colony. From here reach Kannagi Nagar on share auto, walking or another bus.
Best time to visit?
I visited at about 9 AM in the morning, sun was behind the buildings so there was no direct sunlight on most of the paintings. Evening time would probably better. But as you can see from above pics, you will get decent pics any time.
Where are these paintings in Kannagi Nagar?
There's no fixed address. Walk around or drive around to see the paint work. Few are visible as soon as you enter Kannagi Nagar area, while others are hidden in bylanes and take some exploring.
If you are passing by OMR and have a few extra minutes to spare, divert to Kannagi Nagar to take a look at the paintings. Of course you can make an exclusive trip/photo walk to watch and capture these nice painting.
This report has more authentic details about the Kannagi Nagar Art district project. It is a good initiative. Earlier MMTS stations like Tiruvanmiyur also had nice art work. Many cities decorate their roads, underpasses, bridges with colourful murals but picking up a locality and colouring it up looks cool. It will hopefully draw more attention towards Kannagi Nagar and residents get to benefit.
Similar: Street arts in Bogota * Street art in Singapore *
Kannagi Nagar is a lesser know locality in Chennai, located off OMR (Old Mahabalipural Road) or now called Rajiv Gandhi Salai aka IT Corridor. Kannagi Nagar was set up post Chennai Tsunami to rehabilitate those who lost their homes. Kannagi Nagar has dozens of apartment complexes with hundreds of low cost homes in them, given to poor people who lost their everything due to Tsunami.
The otherwise ignored locality is now in limelight, thanks to colourful wall paintings all over. Take a look at these pics.
The black and white kids smiling photo is probably the most captivating one. It is visible from a distance as you enter Kannagi nagar area and immediately draws you towards it.
However, while the walls are all decorated and made beautiful, the slum like locality can do with better infrastructure, awareness and hygiene.
How to reach Kannagi Nagar?
Kannagi Nagar is located about 2 kms off OMR near PTC Colony bus stop. If you wish to try public transportation, Kannagi Nagar has several buses from central, Koyambedu etc. If you don't get direct bus take any bus that passes through OMR (102, 95, 19B etc) and get off at PTC Colony. From here reach Kannagi Nagar on share auto, walking or another bus.
Best time to visit?
I visited at about 9 AM in the morning, sun was behind the buildings so there was no direct sunlight on most of the paintings. Evening time would probably better. But as you can see from above pics, you will get decent pics any time.
Where are these paintings in Kannagi Nagar?
There's no fixed address. Walk around or drive around to see the paint work. Few are visible as soon as you enter Kannagi Nagar area, while others are hidden in bylanes and take some exploring.
If you are passing by OMR and have a few extra minutes to spare, divert to Kannagi Nagar to take a look at the paintings. Of course you can make an exclusive trip/photo walk to watch and capture these nice painting.
This report has more authentic details about the Kannagi Nagar Art district project. It is a good initiative. Earlier MMTS stations like Tiruvanmiyur also had nice art work. Many cities decorate their roads, underpasses, bridges with colourful murals but picking up a locality and colouring it up looks cool. It will hopefully draw more attention towards Kannagi Nagar and residents get to benefit.
Similar: Street arts in Bogota * Street art in Singapore *
Amazing murals. Great works.
ReplyDeleteLoved the post and clicks.
Wonderful art beautifully captured.
ReplyDeleteCan I get ur Instagram id pls 🥺?
ReplyDeleteenidhi
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