It was a regular occurrence for the past several days — the residents of a locality situated near a canal in the picturesque town of Alappuzha saw two youths peering over the walls of their compound and conferring with each other. The residents with a keen eye noticed that the two young men were especially interested in the shrubs and creepers that spilled over the walls of the homes. Just when they decided to intercept the youths, they came over, introduced themselves as Kalesh Ponnappan and Rakesh Ansera and asked a surprising question, ‘Can we create artwork on your compound walls?’
Taken aback, the residents waited for an explanation and it came from Kalesh, “We are thinking of attempting a concept called nature street art. We have been searching for the apt shrubs to use in the art form and hence our recce to select the right foliage.” The duo also showed the residents reference images of what they had in mind.
Credit to the residents, they allowed Kalesh and Rakesh to experiment with their walls and what materialised was a combination of street art that incorporated elements of nature into their graffiti and the duo came up with a bearded man sporting a full head of green foliage as his crowning glory. They also transformed a yellow allamanda (known locally as kolambi) into the tresses of a woman looking sideways. The nature street art proved to be so unique that they got offers from other residents to attempt the same on their walls.
Says Kalesh, “We had to search for the perfect foliage shape and wanted it to be near the canal for the aesthetic appeal. Also, we wanted to work with nature and give it a whole new meaning as a living art form, which, gathering from the positive response, we have managed to do. Actually we have not shaped even a twig or cut any part of the shrub. We have incorporated our art while retaining the true nature of the foliage and that is the challenge.” This art form is popular abroad with famous names like Banksy having created mind-boggling nature art work. Though in vogue abroad, our cities are yet to witness a proliferation of the same.
Though elements of nature are not permanent and would be overgrown with time, the artists made the effort to create the unique work. Kalesh says, “While each piece of art took two to three hours to complete, it was the selection of the foliage that took time.”
Kalesh works as a graphic designer and reveals a love for drawing and sketching from his childhood. “I had left it halfway but the advent of social media made me restart my drawing and use the social platforms to display my art work,” he mentions.
Kalesh’s sketches of celebrities has many followers and positive comments and he has a page where he displays his creations. Both Kalesh and Rakesh are members of the Cartoon Academy and conducted a live caricature exhibition recently.
