A Cultural Extravaganza!

The live mural performance, live DJ, hip-hop dance performance, and a host of other activities marked the conclusion of the third edition of the Wall Art Festival at Alliance Française Chandigarh.

The live mural art performance featured three different artists – Sandre and Super Bab, both French artists, and Aashti Miller, an Indian artist.

DJ Bogus from Chandigarh entertained the audience with his music, while Fire Breaker Crew enthralled the audience with a hip-hop dance performance, creating an environment of urban culture. Fire Breaker Crew is a dance group with members specializing in different dance forms. Formed in 2013, all the members travel to represent themselves in various competitions and underground battles throughout India, expressing their feelings and sharing vibes through dance.

The Chandigarh Slackline Community left those present awestruck with their tricks. Slacklining is an exhilarating balance sport that involves walking or performing tricks on a tensioned piece of flat webbing strung between two anchor points. It demands focus, core strength, and coordination, making it a fun and challenging outdoor activity for thrill-seekers and fitness enthusiasts alike.

A workshop was also conducted, giving participants a chance to showcase their creativity. They customized spray cans by decorating them and took them home as souvenirs of the wall art festival. They also had the opportunity to create a collaborative canvas painting under the guidance of professional artists.

A documentary film titled ‘Vandal Graffiti – An Invisible Approach,’ reflecting the life of a graffiti artist from France, was also screened.

Ophélie Belin, Director of Alliance Française Chandigarh, shared, “For its third edition, the Wall Art Festival invited four artists – two from France, one from India, and one from Réunion Island. Fourteen locations were transformed by French artists, including Chandigarh, where the festival concluded. The festival started in Colombo and covered other locations, including Trivandrum, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Udaipur, Pondicherry, Pune, Bhopal, and Chennai.”

Sandre is a Breton artist based in Paris, France, whose work lies at the intersection of urban and technological practices. After studying animation, she ventured off the beaten path to showcase her art by creating murals in the streets of Paris and numerous countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Belgium. She also creates mappings for events and animations on immersive devices, such as at the Atelier des Lumières in Paris. Her style is situated on the border between naive, surreal, and ironic narration, composed of colorful and nuanced cartoonish characters. Working on a large scale allows her the freedom to fully express her movements while bringing her various characters to life.

Born in 1993, he created his first graffiti at the age of 13. In the following years, he honed his graffiti techniques and explored other avenues such as painting, drawing, watercolor, printmaking, and ceramics. While studying at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, he learned better academic techniques and developed his drawing skills as well as his personal style. Starting with conventional drawing, he adds an abstract touch, particularly influenced by famous surrealist paintings by artists like Miró and Picasso. He also incorporates elements from outsider art and tribal art.

Aashti Miller is an architect, illustrator, and graphic designer. She was born and raised in Mumbai and studied Architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She is the sole force behind MillerInk, an illustration and graphic design studio. She constructs her drawings in an attempt to make sense of the unexpected collision of her two seemingly disparate worlds. As a result, her aesthetic and style have evolved into detailed drawings that tread the fine line between constructed and painted, digital and analog, two and three-dimensional. Her work is heavily inspired by and explores spaces, places, and faces.