‘Purr’fect art installations taking shape

Skilled welders execute creatures based on 3-dimensional scaled-down models

A curious cat peering at the traffic flowing on a flyover is the first draw of public art installation taking shape near the Ikea junction.

While the attention of citizens is riveted by the cable-stayed bridge over Durgam Cheruvu, the art installations in the western parts of the city come as a surprise. “We are going to have nine cats in various locations in that area. We are creating them here and transporting them for installation at the site,” says R. Ramdev Rao at his workshop near Chilkur.

Beside the acrobatic feline near the junction, there is a family of bears surrounded by ornamental olive trees. At the workshop, skilled welders execute the creatures based on three-dimensional scaled-down models. One of them happens to be a giraffe. “We cut the cotton steel pieces and weld them piece-by-piece to resemble the animal. Sometimes, we undo the work if it doesn’t resemble the model,” says Prasad, a welder from Chhattisgarh who was brought to Hyderabad after the end of lockdown. He is among the group of welders from Bihar who have been flown down from their home state to execute the work on time.

“This is a beginning. Public art has to be consolidated. We should get internationally reputed artists and let them work here. In this effort, we will need a serious budget,” says Prashant Lahoti, a patron of art and a member of the team that worked on the Street Art Project in the city.

“Street art festivals and public art installations add to the cultural appeal of a city. When people travel in Europe or the US, they are attracted to street art. The ethnicity or local art sensibility can be reflected, but it is not necessary,” says Laxman Aelay, who has put art from Telangana on the international map. The amount of money spent on the art project is not known.