Flexology: Powerful message from roadside banners in Bengaluru
Though the BBMP has said that such illegal flex boards should be removed, you find them at everywhere.
Bengaluru: Flex boards with heroes (politician, actor, activist or any other leader) in the middle and numerous followers around them are a common across the city. National award-winning artist Ravikumar Kashi has been observing and documenting these flex boards since 2011. He surmises that the spurt in the number of flexboards has to do with vast number of Senes (armies) that have cropped up in Bengaluru and across the state.
"Though the BBMP has said that such illegal flex boards should be removed, you find them at everywhere. Large figures of political leaders, film stars and activists beam at crowds passing by," he said. Such flex banners and posters have been coming up in the name of various Senes fighting for different causes, including language, caste and community, he said. Kashi has been documenting and studying these street narratives which have led him to make some striking observations.
"Though computer and printing technology has made it very easy for everyone to make such boards, not everyone can place them on the streets. This medium is used by political and other powers to mark their territory," he remarked.
In each poster, the design is such that it sticks to a prominent visual grammar - be it the colours used, placement of photographs and use of other elements. They also speak of political affiliations and, in general, the fear of Kannada and Kannadigas losing out to others in the metropolitan city, he said.
Mr Kashi pointed out, "The use of images of ferocious tigers and such seem to have been influenced by those used by Shiv Sena in Mumbai."
He said that during tense and sensitive situations, the content of such posters and flex boards should be filtered. "If the content goes unchecked, the situation can boil over. This is not a simple medium as visuals speak out loud," he said, showing photographs of such posters he clicked and collated since 2011.
He was delivering a lecture on 'Flexology' as part of Re-look, a lecture series held at Shantinagar on Monday.