STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Jammu is receiving a major makeover through eye-catching murals, 3D artworks, and various paintings adorning the building walls and other structures as part of the ‘Smart City’ project.
With the completion of dozens of artworks on the flyovers and walls at 16 different places under the Jammu Smart City Limited (JSCL) project, the city now wears a “smart look”, Amarjeet Singh, a senior artist leading the beautification project, told PTI.
“Initially we started with 3D wall murals and now have started 2D paintings. Now, we are working on the Akhnoor flyover and its pillars. The paintings here are modern and illustrative and would connect to the youth of the region,” said Singh, a senior faculty at the Institute of Music and Fine Arts (IMFA), Jammu University.
Of the 68 pillars marked in the project scope, 58 have been painted, he added.
“The flyover facelift also has a commercial aspect to it. Advertising boards and hoardings will also be placed,” he said.
Scores of artists from various places are engaged in giving the city a major facelift by creating 3D pictures, murals and paintings on flyovers, bridges, roundabouts, and building walls in the city.
Artist Sachen Dev, who has come here from Delhi for the project, told PTI, “The beautification work is being carried out in a year-long tender of the Jammu smart city project. We are covering most of the regions of Jammu. It will take one month to complete the project.”
Dev said that for the past few months, dozens of artists, fine arts students and assistants have focused on bringing life to myriad themes on the walls and flyovers at 16 places in the city.
Besides animals, birds, nature, landscapes, and pictures, the artworks also focus on spirituality and religion with paintings depicting Hindu deities, yogic poses, meditation, nationalism, and the region’s heritage, another artist Vijay said. These wall paintings not only add to the beauty of Jammu but also create a lasting impression on the thousands of people, mostly pilgrims and tourists who pass through the city to reach the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, he added.