Your pics, memories to tell Cubbon Park’s story

BENGALURU: The place you pass by every day may have an interesting history but it is casually overlooked because there is no one to remind you of it. Two Bengalureans are organising a public art project to be held on December 10 at Cubbon Park Metro Station that aims to show the significance of Cubbon Park through photographs and stories which is bound to make commuters nostalgic.

“The idea is to get Cubbon Park inside the underground station,” says Pranav K, the organiser and co-founder of Mouth of Word along with Minal Sukumar. Mouth of Word is a four-month old platform for literary artists and spoken word poets that aims to serve as a catalyst for literary arts in the country. This is their first public project initiative and they have been conducting private and ticketed literature events since May.

Timeline of nostalgia

The project kick-started this month during the second week of October. Posts were put up on social media inviting Bengalureans to share photographs clicked at the park followed by a small textual story. The establishment of the park dates back to 1870 but Pranav says that he would be more than happy to receive photographs dating to the 1980s.

Based on the year the photograph was taken, a timeline will be created. “Cubbon Park is an integral location of the city. I have had friends who proposed there to their significant others. It used to be a picnic hotspot and the introduction of toy train in the park was a big deal,” says Pranav. Gathering all these stories, a gallery will be set in the metro station.

So far Pranav has been contacting friends and relatives to share photographs and stories and is seeking public participation online through city photography pages. However, all the photos and stories shared will be kept anonymous, affirms Pranav.

The idea for the event came about when Mouth of Word was contacted by Art in Transit following their literary event. If you want to be part of the project then you can send photographs clicked at Cubbon Park at rememberingcubbonpark@gmail.com.

Publishing city's poets

An artist and entrepreneur himself, the 29-year-old Pranav noticed the upsurge of people writing stories but realised it did not sustain as a lucrative career. In order to change that, Mouth of Word was created. “People keep reading and writing mythologies but what about the stories of today,” he questions. Pranav shares that they are working on publishing a poetry collective titled Bangalore Book of Poetries in due time. As of now, they have uploaded 25 videos on YouTube featuring word poets.