TrivandrumLife: Arteria, which turned city walls into beautiful canvasses, is entering its third phase. Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran will inaugurate third phase works at 8am on Friday at LMS junction. Phase III works involves renovation of the wall paintings.
Arteria, a city beautification programme, was launched in 2015 when Biju Prabhakar was the district collector. Walls in the city were an eyesore with dirt, posters and banners at that time. With the support of artists in Thiruvananthapuram, Tourism department launched that project. Walls around University stadium, Chandrashekharan Nair stadium, Mascot hotel, Tourism directorate, Corporation and Museum were turned into beautiful paintings. Around 25 artists participated in the phase 1 and 11 works of Arteria in 2015 and 2016.
Though the Arteria team expected a guarantee of only three years for the painting, it has lasted for more years though there got destroyed due to weeds, moss and cracks on the walls. The renovation works will be undertaken on a fund of Rs 12.5 lakh. A committee headed by V K Prasanth MLA and Biju Prabhakar as patron has been formed to review the renovation works. Steel Industrial Kerala Limited will be in charge of the work.
Artists such as Kattor Narayana Pillai, Kanayi Kunhiraman, B D Dathan, N N Rimzon, Chandran T V, Nemom Pushparaj, Saw R swamy, Nandan PV, Varghese Punalur, Charutha, Jayachandran V, Lal, Sreelal, Sreenandanan, Pradeep Puthoor, Tensing Joseph, Rachana, Sabitha, Jubeena, Mohanan Nedumangadu, Ajit Kumar G, Robert Lopez, Prasannakumar, Shibu Chand, Sunil Vallarpadam, Abhilashdas, Jyothilal, Venu Thekkemadam, Sunil Kovalam, Anu Renci Francis will associate with the project.
