Murals breathe new life into Murphy Town ground

Bengaluru

The Murphy Town football ground, also known as the Ambedkar Playground, recently underwent a renovation by the municipal corporation and now has a spectator stand and some rooms on one side of the rectangular ground. However, the walls and the stands were all bare concrete. This is where the local community and local artist Nidhi Umesh came in.

Nidhi grew up in Murphy Town but later left the area. Now, years after leaving, she was drawn back to the neighbourhood she grew up in to give back to it, and painting murals at the ground was the perfect opportunity. “The ground is used by the children there as well as the general public. I went there once and I saw all the walls were grey, so I didn’t want it to be that way. I decided to paint it and make some art on it, so that it would be a nice space for the kids. I do mural art as a hobby so my friends and I gathered people to come and paint with us,” Nidhi said. there for free.

Nidhi and her friends also contacted a couple of professional artists — Prithish and Sharad — who came round to help with the foundations for the murals. in. They contacted the local authorities hoping for some help, and the corporation came through and sent a JCB to clear the dirt and de bris from the ground.

Murphy Town, a historically significant sporting hub in the city, has had several of its athletes play for the state and country. Nidhi’s brother Shiva, a stalwart of the neighbourhood, still teaches hockey to kids With such spaces under the tight control of local politicians and bureaucrats, the artists decided to put up murals only on sports, education and the army.

But the ground had been left to nature and was rather dirty when they first came Sudeep, a lawyer involved in the project, said: “At the start even I asked, with such a big ground, can it be done? Luckily even the BBMP people supported us. We sent letters to them and that officer took an interest and sent a JCB and cleared the ground.

So then we started with the ground work and put the primer on the walls. And then we sent out a message on Instagram and asked people to come and paint with us.” While there is still a lot of work to be done, the progress can be seen from the Metro which passes over the ground. The colourful walls serve as an example of what Bengaluru residents can accomplish when they take ownership of their surroundings