Riot of colours turns Ukkadam housing unit into artwork

Coimbatore: Artists of the St+art India Foundation are adding a pop of colourful hues to the insipid walls of the Tamil Nadu Slum clearance board’s housing unit at Ukkadam.
The second phase of the drive is aimed at beautifying the residential area, which is surrounded by dirt and piling garbage. Residents say that people from other localities used to look down upon them as the surroundings were shabby. Colorful murals on the buildings have now given the locality a facelift.
Naveen Kumar, a resident of the housing unit, said passersby now stop to check out the colourful paintings.
The first phase of the project was carried out last year. The remaining walls will be decorated in the second phase, which will conclude by the end of November.
Art has been confined to people who belong to a certain socio-economic stratum, city corporation commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara said. “We want everyone to experience art and artists. As many as 1,200 families reside here and it is a thriving public place to demonstrate art and artists,” he said.
The project is funded and supported by Asian Paints, local chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai) and Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore.