Experiencing Tihar

Hello people!! My name is Ankush Chabbra, I am a second year student of Delhi College of Arts, pursuing masters in Art Management. I have been a part of the Delhi Street Festival since two years. Under this programme, we have painted many flyovers and underpasses, a few landmark buildings and some cold storages in the capital.  The idea behind the festival is to create a dialogue with everyday commuters and bring art into the public domain. In its second edition, our Street Art Delhi, an urban art festival, is spread over areas like South Extension, Lodhi Colony, Khan Market, Azadpur, Moolchand and would also cover two special projects - rain baseras and Delhi buses.

Recently we were told to adorn the boundary walls of Tihar jail under a two months contract. We were informed that we will be helped by some of the inmates of Tihar as well. The feeling was a mix of excitement and fear. This was because whenever I used to listen to the word 'jail', I used to think of a place of darkness and crime. A place inhabiting the wrongdoers and socially unacceptable. It was hard to think that any life could exist in such a place. But after visiting Tihar Jail and interacting with the inmates, my perception about jails have gone under a full transition.

I have got an immense pleasure to be a part of making a dead city walls come alive with rejuvenating graffities and beautiful paintings. Tihar jail New Delhi complex is the biggest jail in Delhi. I, personally feel very happy in making the life of prisoners colorful. After working with some of the immensely talented artists of Tihar, I have no doubt in stating that Tihar jail is a powerhouse of creativity and talent. The ideas presented and discussed by the inmates could only be thought by a person who has undergone that particular experience. I truly got inspired by all. I am very happy to be part in making the graffies in Tihar jail. It’s a new way of interacting, educating the people.

Project: Coloring Tihar

Tihar Jail is the largest complex of prison in South Asia which is run by Department of Delhi Prisons, Government of Delhi. The prison contains nine central prisons, and is one of the two prison complexes in Delhi, along with a district prison at Rohini Prison Complex. It is located in Tihar village, approximately 7km from Chanakyapuri, to the west of New Delhi.

The prison is styled a correction institution. Its main objective is to convert its inmates into ordinary members of society by providing them with useful skills, education, and respect for the law. To engage, rehabilitate, and reform its inmates. Tihar also uses music therapy, which involves music training sessions and concerts. The prison also owns its own radio station, run by inmates.

At present, Tihar Jail Factory has carpentry, weaving (handloom & power loom). Tailoring, chemical, handmade paper, commercial art and Bakery units, known as Tihar Baking School. A very high level of cleanliness and hygiene is maintained in all manufacturing units.  The jail administration also runs various vocational and technical programmes for skill development, reformation &rehabilitation of prison inmates in these units. A new shoe-making unit was started in December 2009 under Public- Private Partnership model. The products manufactured in Jail Factory are sold under the brand name of “TJ’s”.

The Jail factory is professionally managed by the prison inmates themselves under the guidance of experts and instructors. The prison inmates working in the factory are provided with wages at the rates decided by Government of Delhi. Twenty five percent of the wages earned by these inmates goes towards the Victim Welfare Fund, which is used to provide compensation to the victims & their families.

The project of gratifying Tihar boundary walls has been taken under the project called “Street Art Festival”.  Under this programme, many flyovers and underpasses, a few landmark buildings and some cold storages in the capital are getting a makeover by several artists to create a dialogue with everyday commuters and bring art into the public domain. In its second edition, Street Art Delhi, an urban art festival, is spread over areas like South Extension, Lodhi Colony, Khan Market, Azadpur, Moolchand and would also cover two special projects - rain baseras and Delhi buses. 

To provide a promising platform for the artists to show their creation, we have joined hands with the artists from Delhi College of Arts. Showcasing on such a scale marks the beginning of a new culture in Delhi where communicating a message with a deeper meaning to the society can be done to the graffiti and street art which involves subjectivity and does not impose any opinion on the onlooker. The mixture of vibrant colors and ideas.

The poem itself, entitled “chardiwari”, has been composed by Seema Raghuvanshi, an inmate of the jail, and strikes an extremely poignant note. An art piece, by graffiti artist Yantra, depicts, through a smooth blend of vibrantly colorful swirls and flourishes cumulating into several heart shapes nudged in square panels reminiscent of diabolical machineries in cartoon shows, the mentality of a prisoner being transformed by the Tihar jail.  

Stories of Tihar

“Subah likhti hun, Shaam likhti hun, 
Is Chardiwari mein baithi, bas tera naam likhti hun 
In faaslon mein jo gam ki judai hai, Usi ko har baar likhti hun 
Ye mere shabd nahin, dil ki aawaz hain, 
Khwaish zinda hai, Sochti hun subah kabhi to hogi hi, Har aas mein jeeti hun 
Haan, Subah likhti hun, Shaam likhti hun, 
Is Chardiwari mein baithi, bas tera naam likhti hun”

A place which has a long history of violence and torture, where the colours are lost in the dark cramp holes. A place which holds within several untold stories of miseries. The stories which have finally found a place to be displayed, a voice to be heard.  “Chardiwari” (“Four Walls”), has been composed by Seema Raghuvanshi, an inmate of the jail. Graffiti. which adorned the outside walls of Tihar, is the artwork accomplished by the artists from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh and students of Delhi College of Arts.

This is a caricature of a man drowning in a pit of black ink emanating from a pen, perhaps expounding on media trial of the accused and the assumption that a person is guilty before being proved so.

This one among others is a tempting collection of three panels painted side-by-side and interspersed by wide white margins depicting three dark angels confined in a space that is too congested for them.

Here the trunk of a tree growing through the prison wall to depict a cruel, rough face that, in a commentary on the judicial system and law enforcement agencies, holds in its hands a cage and a bird respectively.

Others…………