Malleshwaram Hogona: The Oldest Area Gets a Street Art Makeover (2024)

Guest Post by Divya Chandrashekar

“Street art is nothing but an urban poetry that catches someone’s eye. Being a street artist is impossible because the city itself is the artist. Street art is a collective thing, participative and interactive”.

How fascinating! Malleshwaram gets a street art makeover. This post will delve into the Malleshwaram Hogona map and other information.

When Raksha from Solopassport came up with the idea of writing articles about Malleshwaram, I was super excited. I decided to write about the latest addition to Malleshwaram, the street art in the bylanes. Thank you, Raksha, for this opportunity to write about something very close to my heart.

Though any form of artwork catches my attention, street art fascinates me the most. In my eyes, they add life to public walls, random empty spaces and the corners of the main crossings. These days, street art fever is raging through urban India, and street artists from various parts of the country and worldwide are collaborating with non-profit organizations to showcase their creative work.

PIN for later reference – Malleshwaram Hogona Map

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About Malleshwaram

Malleshwaram is an emotion. If you have lived in the central part of Bangalore/Bengaluru, you can relate to it.

If you take a walk down the street, you can hear the temple bells from the nearby temples, the chanting of the shlokas or the prayers, the aroma of the freshly ground coffee powder from the coffee works, and the mouth-watering and lip-smacking dosa from CTR. It’s a heaven for all people, from young to old. Recently, a group of artists has made the streets of Malleshwaram even prettier and livelier. Malleshwaram is now famous for its temples, many legendary restaurants, and street art. It’s an added feather to its multi-diverse hat.

A group of artists from Bengaluru collaboratively painted the walls and brought the by-lanes to life. This older planned neighbourhood of Malleshwaram has about 8 to 10 feet wide lanes that cut across the neighbourhood in horizontal and vertical lines. These lanes, also known as conservancies, were planned and built after the great plague of the 1800s and were mainly used for manual scavenging work. Later, the lanes became a space for parking vehicles and eventually fell into complete disuse.

About Malleshwaram Hogana

Geechagalu, an association with a group of artists, has brought a century-old Malleshwaram to full bloom with 12 murals for a project called ‘Malleshwaram Hogona’, which translates in the Kannada language to ‘Let’s go to Malleshwaram’.

I was delighted when I first read about it in various media articles and wanted to explore this art trail instantly. I walked amidst the COVID third wave scare and explored the colourful street art with all the required COVID protocols.

Malleshwaram Gets a Street Art Makeover

Bengaluru Prayana hosts meetups to take guests through the Malleshwaram street art trail and tell the stories behind each of these murals.

Malleshwaram Hogona Map and Street Art Trail

I used Google Maps navigation, also available on the Geechagalu website, to guide me to the murals.

Greetings from Malleshwaram

The Malleshwaram street art trail first starts with the mural Greetings from Malleshwaram. A typographic mural by Saksham Verma depicting the area’s cultural, gastronomical, social, and architectural features. This mural is painted at the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) Bus stand.

Svagata

Update 3 Feb 2024: Unfortunately, the wall on which this mural was painted has been white washed.

The mural Svagata, by artist Girija Hariharan (Welcome in Kannada), represents the locals of Malleshwaram and how they blend their rich traditional past with modern technology. It is a traditional welcome with two young girls and an older lady greeting guests. One young lady welcomes the guests with rose water (Kumbha). It is used in all conventional ceremonies, with marigold flowers strung across. There is beauty in all these sidewalls.

Once Upon a Time, There were Sampige Trees All Around

The third mural is captioned, Once upon a time there were Sampige trees all around, by Chandana BV. Sampige is also known as Champaka flower, and this mural attempts to capture nostalgia and create a sensory visual experience. The main road of Malleshwaram is named after Sampige. Once upon a time, the streets were filled with the fragrant Sampige flowers, but now the trees have disappeared.

Malleshwaram Sparrows

Malleshwaram Sparrows, by Spandana Vella, depicts the disappearing sparrows. Sparrows connect us to childhood memories, and it’s unfortunate to see their numbers dwindling due to urbanization.

Kaapi Kodithiya

Kaapi Kodithiya, by Enoch Dheeraj Ebenezer. Filter coffee is the pride of Malleshwaram and one of the favourite beverages of people in Bangalore. This beverage is one connecting link for conversations in Bangalore.

Also, Read Bangalore’s Food Guide

This is also one of my favourite murals that captures the emotion of coffee. The artist has brought this mural to life with an old ajji (ajji means grandmother in Kannada) pouring filter coffee into a cup.

Pourakarmika

Pourakarmika, by Parameshwar Waran. Pourakarmikas are the workers responsible for the city’s cleanliness. This compelling and realistic colossal mural is a tribute to the Pourakarmikas of Malleshwaram. The artist has painted the portrait of a Pourakarmika who works in this conservancy lane.

Within Her Stride

Update 3 Feb 2024: Unfortunately, this mural has been taken down, along with the wall of Seva Sadan.

Within her stride, by Anpu Varkey, is a fantastic mural painted on one of the walls of the Seva Sadan in Malleshwaram. It depicts a woman walking to do her daily chores.

Gejjeya Nada

Located on Veena Doreswamy Iyengar Street, Gejjeya Nada, by Shree Vyas, is a tribute to the rich Indian classical music and showcases how deeply Malleshwaram is associated with music. Malleshwaram has plenty of music and art schools, and it is home to many music legends.

Malleshwaram in a Glimpse

Malleshwaram in a Glimpse, by Meghana Yeri and Dhanush Kiran. Talking about the culturally rich Malleshwaram is a source of pride. This mural brings all the essential elements to life.

Malleshwaram has been planned like a chessboard. Roads running from North to South are Main Roads, and perpendicular to these are crossroads. In addition, a boundary road runs beside the railway line to mark the boundary of this ‘extension’.

Any Malleshwaram landmark or address will consist of a cross and a main road. The two significant crossroads are the 8th Cross and the 18th Cross. Between these crossroads run two Main roads. The wonderfully named Sampige and Margosa Roads derive their names from the flowery Sampige and Margosa trees that once lined these roads.

Post-It

Post-It! by Abhijeet Rao is an art piece painted behind the Malleshwaram post office building. The art represents an insightful message to its present readers. Pause, read, reflect and post one back to its future!

Sakkare Kaddi

Sakkare Kaddi, by Shivu Mahesh. Just beside the Post-it mural lies the Sakkare Kaddi, which means sugar candy. Only kids of the ’80s and ’90s can relate to this type of candy made in various shapes and sizes. Candy vendors were on the streets during the temple fairs. Gone are the days of sugar candies; the next generation will miss these childhood memories.

Putting the Mull in Malleshwaram

Update 3 Feb 2024: Unfortunately, this mural no longer exists.

Putting the Mull in Malleshwaram, by Amitabh Kumar. A small hidden conservancy lane has become the inspiration for site-specific artwork. The artist has followed the light and shadow play on both sides of the wall. This is the last piece of art from the art project.

Statistics of Malleshwaram Street Art Trail

Exploring this art trail on foot takes about an hour and a half. I was utterly lost and soaked in this fantastic visual treat. I was shocked (in a good way) to see and explore the other side of Malleshwaram, bylanes (conservancies), even though I have lived many years in this pretty suburb. Before this art project, these spaces were neglected, faded and used for parking or throwing garbage. The completely disused lanes have now come to life with these artworks. This shows how art can completely transform a place.

• Total Art Trail Distance: 1.7 kilometres.
• Grade: Easy.

Closing Notes

Explore your neighbourhood on foot, where Malleshwaram gets a street art makeover. Come and explore ‘Let’s go to Malleshwaram’ (Malleshwaram Hogona) to soak in the feeling of Malleshwaram and appreciate art. You can also take a virtual tour of the Malleshwaram street art trail on the Geechugalu website.

Bengaluru Prayana: Did you know that the Bengaluru Prayana team organises a guided walk in Bengaluru to explore and meet the locals? Contact them at bengaluruprayana@gmail.com now!

About the Author of Malleshwaram Gets a Street Art Makeover

Divya is based out of the beautiful city of Bengaluru. She is a working engineering professional, avid reader, bird watcher, blogger on Thru D Lens, snail mailer, explorer, photographer, gardener, and wearer of many hats with pride. I am always curious about learning new art forms and appreciate art in any form. 

She believes in capturing moments as they happen. Her photography style is nature, architecture, and wildlife. She also loves capturing wildlife in natural habitats and monuments of architectural importance.

Note: All the pictures used in this post belong to the author. Reproduction and distribution of the presentation without written permission from the author is prohibited.

PIN for later reference – Malleshwaram Hogona Map