Flushing the streets of Ukhrul Town with contemporary mural paintings, one can surely feel the vibrant energy with the beautiful paintings on the sides of the road.
TFM Ukhrul Correspondent
With an aim to paint the walls of Ukhrul town with colourful murals, while giving platforms to the artists of the town, “Project – Paint Ukhrul” is warming up the approaching cold winters of Ukhrul.
The project is an initiative taken up by Sorei Keishing, founder of TanteT Art Village and Lemyao Shimray, president of Naga Wire.
Around 80 Tangkhul artists are participating at the project in painting the streets of Ukhrul Town. The project kick-started on October 22, 2021. The participants were given seminar and orientation on October 16, 2021. The project attempts to paint the whole town of Ukhrul with 1,000 murals by 2023.
The themes are based on culture, flora and fauna, social issues, environmental and Tangkhul sports persons and icons. The participants include professional and amateur artists.
Speaking to this correspondent, Lemyao Shimray stated that “our aim is to flush the streets of Ukhrul Town with contemporary mural paintings. By 2023, we aim to have 1,000 paintings. We started this project mainly to expose and give platforms to the artists in Ukhrul. Out here in Ukhrul, there are lots of talented artists, most of them are self taught. But we don’t have a platform to showcase their talent. So this is some kind of a platform for the artists, and at the same time, to attract tourists. Instead of going out and learning from them, we aim to attract people to come and learn from Ukhrul Town.”
Lemyao Shimray further informed that “we aim to take this project further to other districts of Manipur, and finally, bring the artists of hills and valleys together.”
As the artist toils in the day, many passersby could be seen admiring their work. With the fall of temperature, passersby in warm clothes could be seen enjoying the new looks of Ukhrul streets. Each painting tells of the story from the beautiful Shirui Lily to the marginalization of people fighting substance addiction. The paintings are in themselves, testimonies of the things that make up Ukhrul, beautiful, psychedelic and lively.