MUMBAI: St+art India Foundation, in collaboration with adidas and Asian Paints, are working towards creating a unique urban arts intervention on the basketball court of Mumbai’s St. Andrews High School, with New Delhi-based artist Khatra.
The art intervention aims to transform the basketball court at St. Andrews College into an iconic location for the city of Mumbai, featuring a typographic artwork by Khatra that celebrates the spirit of inclusivity in sports. With the premise that “sport doesn’t care”, the artwork highlights that sport is and should be non-discriminatory.
Khatra, who is well-known for his body of work including calligraphy, typography and abstract works amongst others, has used an impactful yet minimalist approach for his design, working with variations in typography to illustrate the concepts of equality and inclusion in a comprehensible manner.
Capable of speaking to people from different walks of life, Khatra’s piece also seeks to encourage locals to visit the court, incentivising them to take up the sport themselves, additionally encouraging reflection on the power of sports to change lives.
The initiative is being taken under the larger project base of ‘St+art Courts’ which seeks to enliven playgrounds in our country with urban contemporary art interventions. Contributing to the foundation’s vision to create art that is inclusive and capable of reaching a wide audience, St+art Courts strive to bring popular spots by the locals using artistic means and utilise the immense power of public art to further both the spirit of sportsmanship as well as community building.
Hanif Kureshi, Creative Director, St+art India Foundation, said, “We have been working on infusing art with sports. Through St+art Court we want to embed art with sports and make it exciting for the young generation to engage more in sports. For this particular court, we are working on the idea of equality across genders. We also want to encourage more females to participate in sports. Elaborating the idea, St+art court brings artists from different background to experiment with different surfaces.”
Manish Sapra, Senior Marketing Director, adidas India, “At adidas, we believe that through sport, we have the power to change lives. This International Women’s Day, we wanted to take the changing narrative around women in sports right onto the streets of Mumbai and celebrate cultural transformation. We are excited to team up with St+art India Foundation & Asian Paints to deliver an impactful message of equality and inclusivity in sports culture through one of the most powerful mediums of expression – Art! We believe that Change is a Team Sport & we aim to bring about a ‘change’ in the mindset of school children by encouraging them and the community at large to view sports through the lens of equality. By providing a level playing field for all, the message on the school’s turf is simple yet powerful – that sport doesn’t care or discriminate.”
Amit Syngle COO, Asian Paints Limited, said, “We at Asian Paints have always endeavored toward beautifying spaces with colour. Our association and partnership with St+art India Foundation is a step forward in the direction of making art accessible and inclusive, so that it can be enjoyed by the masses. So we are delighted to once again lend our support to St+art’s effort in revamping the basketball court at the renowned St. Andrews in Mumbai. It is indeed our pleasure to partner with brands like Adidas who have always put their focus on performance in sports and by supporting projects like this that aim to brighten up play areas through fun art interventions. We are positive the outcome of this collaboration would be appreciated by the students, basketball players and visitors alike.”
