By Bhavya Balamurali
Image credit: Lodhi Art District / Team ACF
Inside India’s bustling cities, blank walls are no longer silent. They speak in colours, symbols and stories, redefining the relationship between art and public space. With a powerful moto “Art for Everyone” – St+art India Foundation is democratizing art, one wall at a time, making creativity as common as traffic signals and chai stalls.
Founded in 2014, St+art India foundation was born out of a simple question: Why should art be confined to galleries and elite circles? Founders Arjun Bahl, Hanif Kureshi and Giulia Ambrogi envisioned a world where art is not confined to a certain section of society, but rather accessible to everyone. Democratizing art, the movement turned city walls into colossal canvases and bylanes into open-air galleries.
Image Credit: Lodhi Art District / Kumar Gaurav, Team ACF
India’s First Public Art District: Lodhi Colony, New Delhi
The foundation began transforming forgotten spaces into vibrant narratives, collaborating with street artists from India and around the world. The transformation of Lodhi Colony in New Delhi remains their magnus opus, transforming it into India’s first public art district. Working with over 50 artists from across the globe, the space is not filled with mere graffiti, but structured, sanctioned designs made to enrich the otherwise nondescript buildings.
Over multiple editions of the St+art Festivals, each artwork created tell a different story of environment, identity, migration, memory and celebration, converting the space into a living, breathing museum, open 24/7, free of charge and accessible to everyone.
Through a series of vibrant murals, installations and interactive art projects, they beautified neglected urban spaces, drawing people from all walks of life – students, tourists, office-goers and art lovers – turning Lodhi Colony into a thriving cultural hotspot.
Image credit: Sassoon Dock / St+art India via Facebook
Bridging Art with Social Impact:
Not just confined to Delhi, St+art India have displayed their work all throughout India. With large scale murals, site-specific installations, community art projects, sculptures, urban interventions and multimedia exhibits. Reimagining public spaces across India from shipping container museum on Mumbai’s docks to interactive installations in Goa and Hyderabad, each project is rooted in local culture while embracing global artistic trends, regionally and internationally relevant.
St+art India, in its collaboration with initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission and art festivals in Mumbai’s Mahim neighbourhood, created murals that not only beautified spaces but also delivered messages of sustainability, civic responsibility and inclusivity, transforming walls into a vibrant storytelling medium.
Their vision is rooted in using art as a tool for social change, with projects that intersect with issues of urban development, environmental awareness, gender equality and cultural preservation, creating a new cultural blueprint that integrates art into urban planning.
Image Credit: Lodhi Art District, Kumar Gaurav / Team ACF
In a time when people are disconnected from their physical surroundings, St+art India has made street art an integral part of urban identity, reminding us of the power of shared public spaces. Their murals with messages of unity, cultural pride and environmental consciousness make the invisible, visible again.
Democratising not just art but the conversations around identity, heritage and belonging in a rapidly changing India, the organization collaborates with international artists, city governments, cultural organisation, and urban planners to make public art a more enduring part of India’s cityscape.
Image Credit: Lodhi Art District / Team ACF
In a country as dynamic and diverse as India, St+art India stands as the beacon of what’s possible when creativity meets community. Focussing on sustainability, digital storytelling and broader inclusivity, the foundation has successfully shown that art can thrive on weathered walls, in bustling streets and amidst everyday life, making cities not just places to live in but to belong to.
So next time you walk past a colourful wall in your city, stop for a moment. Listen. It might be telling a story.
