The Walls of Trivandrum

: A Traverse into the Murals Generated by Arteria.

Abstract

Arteria is a project that aims at rendering the city buildings and walls with

contemporary art. It was initiated by the District Tourism Promotion Council,

Thiruvananthapuram and is now being implemented in all the 14 districts of Kerala. It was

inaugurated on the 4th of August, 2015 at the Gate of the University Stadium opposite to the

Corporation Building in Thiruvananthapuram. The first phase of the project itself saw the

participation of over 20 renowned artists such as Kanayi Kunhiraman, Kattoor Narayana

Pillai, B. D. Dathan, N. N Rimzon and Tensing Joseph. The project is currently done in three

phases with the initial phase held in 2015 and the second one being implemented the

following year while the last phase was carried out in 2023. The project aims at conceiving

the whole city as a vast open canvas which would in effect free the public from being

exposed to the enormous swirl of mechanically reproduced images. By re-directing the

public eye to such expressions, it involves the masses in the evolving art culture and also it

assumes great significance as it provides the artists with a canvas to portray their work to an

enthusiastic public.

Keywords: Art, Culture, Leisure and Recreation, Life, Trade Shows, Travel and

Tourism and tagged art in thiruvananthapuram, art in trivandrum, arteria, arteria 15, arteria

thiruvananthapuram, arteria trivandrum, arteria-2015, B.D Dethan, Chandran T.V, Charutha

Reghunath, culture, Jayachandran.V, Kanayi Kunjiraman, Kattoor Narayana Pillai, Mohanan

Nedumangad, N.N Rimzon, Nemom Pushparaj, Pradeep Puthoor, Prasanna Kumar, Rachana

Vijith, Robert Lopez, Saj R Swamy, Shibu Chand, Sreelal S, Sreenandanan, Sunil
Kovalam, Tensing Joseph, Thiruvananthapuram, tourism in thiruvananthapuram, tourism in

trivandrum, Trivandrum, Trivandurum life, Vijayan Neyyattinkara, Vijith.

Content

Arteria is a project that was initiated by the District Tourism Promotion Council,

Thiruvananthapuram aimed at rendering the walls of vertical infrastructures with

contemporary art. The project was conceived in the mind of the (previous)

Thiruvananthapuram District Collector Biju Prabhakar, who conveyed it to the Department of

Tourism, Government of Kerala. The project was inaugurated in 2015 and it is still actively

in work and it is under consideration to be implemented in all the 14 districts in Kerala owing

to its tremendous success.

Etymologically, the word “Arteria” is obtained by combining the word “art” with the

suffix “-eria”, which can be used to denote a plethora of meanings. By definition, the word

denotes a place for the production of art, the discipline of practicing the art craft or it could be

used to suggest a class, group or collection of art. In Latin, the word also stands for an artery

that carries blood, which would be an apt description for its cultural significance in the hearts

of those abiding in Thiruvananthapuram.

The project was recommended by the District Collector to the Department of Tourism

in collaboration with the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) and the city

corporation. The primary source of funding was the Department of Tourism, Government of

Kerala while the other sponsors differed from phase to phase. The project was under

discussion from the beginning of 2014 and on July 31, 2014, the logo for the project was

launched in the press conference held at the Information and Public Relations Department

Auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram. The erstwhile Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar

Kunjhiraman.

The intial logo consisted of the word “Arteria” in lower case, written in a simple bold

font with a few stylistic choices. The word “art” in the logo is highlighted by giving it a

brownish yellow colour, which is a stark contrast to the the common black colour with which

the suffix “-eria” is written. The colour choice puts much emphasis into the nature of the

project while the simplistic font makes it easily recognisable. Later the logo was simplified

into the letters “a” and “e” written together in a plain white background with a simplistic

brownish white font and vice versa.

. Initially, the walls from Kowdiar to East Fort were to be plastered with art, both

mural and contemporary, that celebrates the city’s rich cultural heritage and the objective

was to finish the first phase before Onam the same year. However, the project was delayed

as it was kept on the backburner for a long time owing to a fund crunch and also due to the

preparations for National Games held in the city in early 2015. The proposed walls that were

sanctioned to be painted were those of the University Stadium, which was the stage for

athletics and similar sport events for the games. The project took almost a year after its first

press release to officially start again and was later woken up from its latency on July 27, 2015

when the official account of Arteria reports the progress of the project through various

photographs. According to the account, a meeting was held in the District Collector’s Office

in July with renowned artists who would take part in the inaugural phase of the project. The

meeting was attended by prominent artists from all over Kerala. Later, on the same day as

that of the meeting, the artists went to inspect the walls of University Stadium where they

went on to inspect their canvases and discuss the game plan.

in 2016 and the final phase held in 2021. The inaugural phase involved painting the exterior

wall of University Stadium stretching from LMS Junction to Palayam covering around 7000

square feet area. The inauguration of the artistic rendering was held at 4 pm, on 4th August

2015 at the Gate of University Stadium opposite to the Corporation Office Buildings. The

first phase was curated by Dr. G. Ajith Kumar and involved the participation of twenty-one

renowned artists who transformed the walls into a kaleidoscope of images. The list consists

of Shri. Kanayi Kunjiraman, Shri. Kattoor Narayana Pillai, Shri. B.D Dethan, Shri. N.N

Rimzon, Shri. Tensing Joseph, Shri. Nemom Pushparaj, Shri. Pradeep Puthoor, Shri.

Prasanna Kumar, Shri. Chandran T.V, Shri. Sreelal S, Shri. Sreenandanan, Shri. Sunil

Kovalam, Shri. Jayachandran.V, Shri. Vijayan Neyyattinkara, Shri. Robert Lopez, Shri.

Mohanan Nedumangadu, Shri. Shibu Chand, Charutha Reghunath, Shri. Saj R Swamy,

Rachana Vijith and Shri. Vijith. The paintings were inaugurated on August 24, 2015

following the onam rally and the event was held in the presence of K. Muraleedharan, MLA;

District Collector Biju Prabhakar; Tourism Secretary G. Kamala Vardhana Rao; Additional

District Magistrate V.R. Vinod, noted artist Kattoor Narayana Pillai, and project curator G.

Ajitkumar were present on the occasion. The initial phase of the project was completed at a

cost of Rs.15 lakh and it was the most cost-effective phase among the three. Most of the

works were done using acrylic emulsion. Steps to protect the paintings were also taken into

consideration.

Several contemporary as well as traditional artistic choices were applied to work in

the initiative. For instance, former Kerala Lalithakala Akademi chairman Kattoor Narayana

Pillai, who has been at work on a 20 feet by 6 feet segment. He used vibrant colours - Red,

brown, yellow, green, the ones that are typical of the ritual art of Kalamezhuthu. The capital

city’s temple arts, sculptures, contempororay social realities are all part of his usual style of
painting. But he is known for the faces that tend to appear as appear as flowers from a

distance. “It is an expression of man’s various desires, many faces”, he explains. B.D.

Dethan’s ‘Celebration of Art’ was a play of colours while ‘Aattam’ by Kanayi

Kunhiraman’s was its contrast painted in pitch black. Tensing Joseph’s bold strokes and

Prasannakumar’s untitled work with its immaculate sense of proportional colour scheme by

themselves speak in volume of the project’s success. The process of painting can be best

described by N. N. Rimzon’s account on the experience. “So there was an initial difficulty in

getting used to the scenario where people watch a work in progress. All of us are used to

working in the comforts of our studio or private spaces. So painting on the street was more

like a performance. Therefore I had to get over that inhibition first. Then there were other

apprehensions such as acts of vandalism and bad weather. The heat was oppressive, there

was dust, intermittent showers, the hustle and bustle of people and vehicles on the road... we

had too much to handle,” says Rimzon, whose monochrome work ‘Invisible Wall’ covers

the wall with beautiful visuals , thus rendering it invisible to pedestrians. It was decided that

the walls right opposite to the Mascot Hotel were to be converted into ‘Open Canvas’, where

new art works would be done every two months. Similar art work was also planned on the

walls of Kanakakunnu and the Legislative Assembly complex.

The second phase of Arteria was under plans barely four months after the completion

of the intial stage. It was reported by The Hindu on December 14, 2016 that the project was

planned in such a manner that the paintings were completed to be by January 20, 2016. The

working group on Tourism sanctioned an amount of Rs.37 lakh for the purpose and about

15,000 square feet of wall would be used as canvas for the second phase. Unlike the first

phase, location-specific themes were allotted to the paintings. Steps were also adopted to

preserve the paintings that were prepared in the first phase. “A coat of varnish will be
applied on the paintings within the next few days in order to ensure their preservation for at

least two years. In addition, acrylic sheets will be used to shield the paintings from fungus

growth,” said Mr. Biju Prabhakar.

The authorities chose the themes for the painting from different painting competitions

that were organized for this purpose. The walls of Mascot hotel were to be adorned with

paintings having “Responsible Tourism” as its theme. Kochi-based artist P V Nandan and his

students' KC Appan, Ashandan and Sunil Vallarpadam are known for their individual

capacities and were given the task of representing the flora and fauna of state in their own

style. They had chosen to represent the geography of Kerala along with its inhabitants. They

paintings which start with the sea at the corner most wall towards PMG Junction represents

the coastline of Kerala, followed by its topography which consists of backwaters, mountains,

villages, tribes, etc., ending with wildlife representative of Kerala’s rich ecological status.

Sunil in his work recreated the village life that existed long before the Goshree bridge and

container terminal project started. Images consist of farmers sowing, reaping and husking

while others did different kinds of occupations. The wildlife consists of different kinds of

animals such as elephants, tigers and wild oxen and the artwork consisted of a depiction of

them carrying a tree. "Forests have dwindled so much that they exist only in the minds of

animals. It also shows that those who need trees have to carry them wherever they travel,"

said Nandan and Sunil. The 30-feet-long and 8-feet-high paintings were to be painted in

consecutive months. Similiarly, “The history of erstwhile Travancore dynasty” was the theme

selected for painting the walls of Kanakakunnu Palace in the city. Made by artist Sreelal, the

paintings stretch from the palace gates to the walls of Jawahar Balbhavan. The painting was

200-feet-long and 6-feet-high. The paintings at Tourism Directorate, Chandrasekharan Nair

Stadium and Trivandrum didn’t have a specific theme. Therefore, the participating artists

were given freedom of artistry within the bounds of certain boundaries and public
responsibilities suited for project. Hence, the 100-foot-long and five-foot high compound

wall and 10-foot-high and 10-foot long building wall was covered by murals and

contemporary art of its creator’s choice. In the case of corporation building, the artists

performed the theme-based painting on a 60-foot-long and 50-foot high wall. The

Chandarasekharan Nair Stadium was given flamboyant makeover with paintings that covered

its 30-foot-long and 25-foot-high wall. The second phase of Arteria Project aimed at filling

the exposed infrastructure of Rajpath, starting from Kanakakunnu to Palayam and the

curators were able to successfully implement their mission which is said to have

proportionally increased tourism.

The Minister of Tourism, Shri. Kadakampally Surendran formally launched the third

phase of Arteria on Friday the 8 th of Januray, 2021. The third phase of ‘Arteria

Fresco project’, saw almost 23 murals emerging across places such as

the Akkulam bypass at Kuzhivila Junction, St Joseph’s School, the

Museum and the Palayam underpass. The government allotted a fund of over Rs.

50 lakh for the project initially. Public-sector enterprise Steel Industries Kerala Limited

(SILK) has been tasked with project implementation and partial sponsorship. Rs. 2.5 lakh

was also utilised for the maintenance of the previuos paintings.

Artist Anpu Varkey claimed her reason for choosing the underpass. “I chose the

underpass because it was challenging. A double-sided wall that people would have to look

down to view. It is a different kind of viewership. It was a challenge to connect the two

walls. Till now, I have been painting walls that passers-by look at laterally.” Similarly,P. S.

Jalaja, a contemporary artist who took part in the third phase of Arteria states: “I feel like the

(Covid) lockdown time was a double lockdown for women. After this period, their cheerful

announcement and celebration is portrayed in my work”.

signignificance. Each painting is unique in the sense that each of them implemented a

different art style. For instance, the vibrant painting by Babitha Kadannappally utilizes the

Gond art style which is practised by the Pardhan Gonds, the indegenious people living near

Madya Pradesh in Central India. Gond art is characterised by the line and dot technique used

to create entire paintings. The lines and dots capture the attention of the viewers’ due to the

detailing and dynamism it possesses.

An imposing wall by the National Highway 66 road near the Akkulam Bridge that

stretches over 900 feet is the canvas for the Attingal Revolt of 1721. The painting is said to

be drawn owing to its 300 year anniversary. From an age when written records barely

survived and there are almost no worthy memorials, nine former and current students of the

Government Fine Arts College Thiruvananthapuram joined hands to create the massive

painting that showcases the valiant battle fought by the natives against the British. There are

scarcely any writings about the Attingal Revolt, nor are there any images to be used for

reference. We did a thorough study of all the available material from various archives. We

visualised it in this space with a massive central arch, which is 25 feet at its central point, to

depict the major events. On the left side, we have shown the native forces organising and

advancing, while on the right side, the Company forces are shown as approaching. The

Company forces were attacked near the Vamanapuram River, which we have drawn in the

entire central portion,” says K. S. Ratheesh Kumar, one of the artists.

The third phase was curated by Shri. Ajith Kumar G. while Smt. Anita Rose

Abraham held the post of Assistant Curator. The project saw the participation of eminent

artists such as Smt. Babitha Kadannappally, Smt. Alina Ifthikar, Shri. Vishnu N. Vinod, Shri.

Vishnu C. S., Shri. Anu Renci Francis and Shri. Shine Varambilan working on the Museum
compound walls, Shri. Ajay K. P., Shri. Arjun Panayal, Shri. Akhil Vinod, Shri. Ramith C,

Shri. Ratheesh Kumar, Shri. Sajith K., Shri. Stephin T. S., Smt. Thushara Balakrishnan and

Shri. Vivek V. C. working on the Akulam Bypass Road, Shri. Ansar Mangalathop and Shri.

Sangeeth Sidharth invested on the project in St. Joseph School, near General Hospital and

Smt. Anpu Varkey and Smt. Jalaja PS, involved individually in the Palayam Underpass Road

and Kuzhivila, Akulam Bypass Road respectively.

The project is considered to be an overwhelming success owing to the constant participation

of numerous talents resulting in the reception of positive feedback from the citizens. Arteria

exposed the public to prominent artists, whose works were only enjoyed by a certain group of

the population. The palpable form of presentation might have attracted the citizens who were

distant to the culture due to the widely prevalent superstition that one must have a trained eye

to enjoy art. It also gave platforms for emerging artists to showcase their talent and to gain

experience while working with the masters of the craft. “We were excited when artists such

as Kanayi sir and Dethan sir watched us working and appreciated what we had done. And

then there were scores of people who used to visit us daily and kept a tab on the progress of

our work!,” says Rachana, who along with Vijith Kumar produced the painting “Hi

Trivandrum”, a recreation of the mural illustration of the city. N. N. Rimzon, a

contemporary artist adds: “It was a knowledge-gaining experience for me.”

However, the artists in the project were euphoric about their success. It was the first

time that they had worked in such an environment where pedestrians would stop by to

witness the process and appreciate the work involved. Usually the viewers are only exposed

to the final product, while the process is curtained. V. Jayachandran, professor, Department

of Applied Arts, College of Fine Arts said: “We usually get to work with masters only

during art camps or in a studio. But working with them in an open space was a different
experience. In fact I was quite concerned and spent a lot of time finalising the work and

colour scheme. Contemporary art calls for a different visual sense and that itself was a big

challenge for me.”

The project has become synonymous with graffiti for the civilians as the project aims

at transforming the bland surfaces of the city into a canvas which can be used as an outlet for

the talented and inspired to express their artistic dispositions. Trivandrum was facing a

problem with posters and bills that were pasted on public and free infrastructure. The

citizens might have wanted to see the city walls free of posters and graffiti. “It has become a

common practice to disfigure walls by pasting posters, graffiti and bills. This project was

envisaged to change that scenario. Of course, there were a lot of issues such as coordinating

with artists, fixing the remuneration, plastering the walls and limited time frame. But the

artists were ready to give it a go,” says Kattoor Narayana Pillai. However the project itself

was not freed from the grasping hands of advertising modules. A line of large flex boards,

installed by the organisers of a fest in April, 2016 at the Sooryakanthi exhibition grounds in

the palace, has made the purpose of the wall paintings redundant. Similarly, it was brought

to the authorities notice in Early January, 2019 that several art works in a large area near the

Palayam bus waiting shed were defaced with posters. However, the Mayor promised that

stringent action would be taken against the organisations responsible for defacing the art

works. The weather was fairer towards the paintings as the paintings were expected to

survive for a period of merely two years. But due to proper maintenance and protection, the

painting on average had a life expectancy of about 5 years.

In conclusion, Arteria cannot be confined to be just a means of beautification of the

city. It can turn the eyes of the citizens from the bright monotonous electronic media they
consume, towards the large hand drawn swirls of artistic expression. Apart from providing

opportunities for the artists and exposure to the public, the project saw the emergence of an

artistic liberation which was granted to those who took part in it. Arteria embodies our

current cultural status and the direction of our progress. One can claim that it is a fuel that

fans the fire of creativity that burns inside us.

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