IIITH hosts Alliance Française Hyderabad’s Wall Art Festival on Campus

16 November 2022, Hyderabad: As part of IIIT Hyderabad’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, the institute hosted Alliance Française of Hyderabad’s national Wall Art Festival on campus. French artists KidKreol and Boogie painted a section of IIIT Hyderabad’s iconic Himalaya block spiral staircase themed around the Indian ocean.

This is the 2nd edition of the Wall Art Festival celebrating the incredible potential of artistic collaborations between the French Embassy in India, the French Institute in India, the network of Alliances Francaises in India and their partners. From 7 November – 2 December 2022, all 5 invited wall artists (Kid Kreol and Boogie, Olivia De Bona, Neethi and Mr. Poes) will travel across 13 cities – from Jaipur to Pune passing by Delhi, Ahmedabad or Kolkata, from Chandigarh to Bhopal passing by Chennai, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, or Pune and will contribute with Indian artists and students to make our cities and public spaces more colourful and beautiful, through the vision of visual art.

The completed artwork at IIITH campus was inaugurated by Sri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS , Principal Secretary, Dept. of IT and Industries, GoTS and President of Alliance Française of Hyderabad Executive Committee along with guests of honour Shri Prshant Lahoti , owner of Kalakriti Art Gallery and recipient of the award ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ from the French Government for his contribution to the field of Art; well-known artist Mrs Anjani Reddy, and Isabelle Collin, Co-CEO of Dennisco and wife of the Honorary Consul of France in Hyderabad.

Commenting on the event, Prof P J Narayanan, Director, IIITH said, “Arts have formed a core part of IIIT’s curriculum and activities with enthusiastic participation from our students and the rest of the community. Community-driven art lives on many walls and benches and the several unexpected places on campus. I am pleased to see this Wall Artwork in collaboration with the Alliance Francais by expert artists from France and our students, in part to celebrate the Silver Jubilee year of IIIT Hyderabad. Their fabulous work will inspire students and other visitors for years.”

Kid Kreol expressed his amazement at the shattering of stereotypes during this visit that he once had about India. Kid and Boogie expressed admiration for the atmosphere and talent of the students at IIIT-H.