Dead Dahlias

Amitabh Kumar is a designer and artist based in Bangalore. He has graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda and has worked as a part of the Sarai Media Lab (2006-2010), where he led research, made comics, programmed events, designed books and co-curated an experimental art space. He is a visiting faculty member at Srishti School of Art and Design and Technology and is an initiating member of the Delhi-based comics ensemble, The Pao Collective.

This mural is informed by the historical context of the site and the graphic possibilities that it has opened. The root of the image is a story. When the Pandavas lost the first game of dice, they were exiled to Khandavaprastha, the city of ruins. Krishna, who accompanied them in their exile, magically turned Khandavaprastha into Indraprastha, The City of Gods, often thought to have been located in the region of present-day New Delhi. This city, which was made of magic, is now crumbling. Through this intervention, the artist would like the viewer to catch its crumbling pieces and vanish. A metaphor for the city of Delhi, which Amitabh feels is falling apart but can still be regenerated. Public art in Lodhi Art District may be one of the signs of its rebirth.