009: Life in Bold: Hanif Kureshi on Cultivating an Idea, the World of Fonts and Keeping Your Culture Alive

⌛ 5 MINUTES

Anyone who has traversed the streets of Lodhi colony or Bandra would have stopped to notice the rich murals adorning their previously dilapidated walls — would have felt themselves drawn to the world they conjure up, even if for a split-second. To Hanif Kureshi, co-founder and Artistic Director of St+art India, this is mission accomplished. Hailing from a small, relatively unknown town in Gujarat, making a mark on the world wasn't really on his bucket list — but now his fingerprints are stamped across cities.

Auntie Maria, Paris: A 10m tall, hand-painted mural from the Cut Out project conceptualised by Hanif Kureshi. Kureshi was given the opportunity to showcase this larger-than-life cut out as an extension of the ‘Les Extatiques’ exhibition held in La Défense, Paris.

Off the Beaten Path: Forging an Identity

Growing up, a young Hanif had an accidental proclivity for shunning the standard doctrines of art — painting on steel plates and compact disks, etching names on pens, you name it. “We would get copies of Letraset,” reminisces Kureshi, referring to an obsolete spiral-bound font catalogue. He recalls, with vivid clarity, painstakingly tracing, cutting and pasting lettering styles by hand — although you won’t catch him griping about it. Perhaps that’s where he gets this deep-running appreciation for hand- lettering. Things changed with the advent of the computer. Hanif was teetering on the edge of adulthood, college giving him his transformative years and altering his world-view, when—

—the Internet came in, and the world of bold expanded.

Budx X Hanif Kureshi: A collaboration between Hanif Kureshi and Budweiser. 

The collaboration celebrates India’s emerging streetwear culture and Budweiser’s long-standing heritage. With the streets of India as his eternal muse, Kureshi injects his affinity for India’s traditional sign-painting styles into his projects.

For all the ‘Indianness’ of his brand of work, career-related family feuds are one desi trope Hanif never experienced. His family has always been supportive of his interest in the arts, even encouraging professional pursuit of it when he himself was leaning towards an education in science. With an awed sort of realisation, he muses, “Had I pursued anything else, my life would be completely different right now.”

Kureshi earned his bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from MSU, Baroda, diving into a career in advertising at Wieden & Kennedy before finding his way back to the art world.

The Future of the Past: Creating an Archive for Coming Generations

As a young artist, Kureshi had always envisioned himself as a sign painter. Pair that with his penchant for observing streets, and he had a dawning realisation — Hanif noticed that the traditional signages on the food thelas he was so accustomed to had been replaced with flashy, printed vinyl. He knew then: he had to record what the world had once looked like for future generations, lest these vernacular scripts be swept away in the vicissitudes of time.

And behold — HandpaintedType was born. Kureshi started commissioning street sign painters to create the alphabet in their unique styles, digitalising them and putting them up for commercial use.

“The next step is to launch HandpaintedType as a type foundry: a group of people that design and distribute fonts,” says Hanif. He believes we need more Indian designers developing Indic fonts — preferably in their local language — and sharing them at a global level.

“A painter sitting in Uttar Pradesh getting exposure in the Big Apple—” begins Kureshi, “—that’s what this is about.”

Hanif’s fascination with typography and sign-painting goes beyond the craft and the myriads of  typefaces; to him, it’s as important to acknowledge the people behind the letters.

St+arting a New Phase: Recontextualising the Indian Art Scene

Hanif is, perhaps, best known for being one of the creatives behind the St+art India Foundation, tasked with beautifying run- down walls in the city’s nooks and crannies, and with metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru on their resume. It started with a trip to Europe, where Kureshi found himself roaming the city with graffiti writers and experiencing street art culture. Graffiti, to Kureshi, was just an expression of typography, one that he knew from the get-go he wanted to bring to India. And so in 2015, Hanif — along with co-creators Arjun Bahl, Akshat Nauriyal, Giulia Ambrogi and Thanish Thomas —  formally established St+art India.

Since its inception five years ago, the organisation has undertaken the beautification of 330 walls spanning 8 cities; they’ve also organised 15 street art festivals and 6 exhibitions, enlisting the help of over 300 artists throughout the course of their initiative. Important projects under their belt include the art districts, the ‘Art in Transit’ initiative (geared towards bringing the street-art experience to daily commuters), and the ‘Sassoon Dock Art Project’ that has hosted installations by over 40 artists. St+art has steadily garnered the support of various embassies (Germany, Poland, Switzerland, to name a few) and cultural institutes, even finding a loyal long- term partner in Asian Paints. At St+art, they believe in fostering meaningful relationships and engaging in collaborative effort; their art districts have fostered spaces for cultural interaction and cross-community exchange.

Hanif himself seems a little tongue-tied over their growth. “From seeking permission to revamp a few walls in Shahpur Jat, to the government of Telangana asking us to do this in their state, that’s — yeah.”

A crucial aspect of St+art is choosing what goes on the walls for their projects. “We don’t choose the artwork; we choose the artist,” says Hanif. “Then the artists familiarise themselves with the context and connect with the locals to figure out what to do. But nothing’s really premeditated.”

‘Harbouring Hope’ (Kannagi Art District, Chennai): Celebrating the resilience of those displaced by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

Hanif believes street art is contagious — and the internet helps amplify this infectiousness. Seeing someone scrawl something on a long-abandoned wall compels others to follow suit, and the web 2.0 allows for syndication that transcends geographical boundaries.

St+art India has successfully established 6 full-fledged art districts so far, and there’s more where that came from.

“Art doesn’t always need to be so refined”

This sort of art, where art is not about the subject but what it makes the viewer think, fascinates Hanif. Staunchly disapproving of the elitist nature of contemporary art, this is what he has to say: “When you curate, you have a certain audience to cater to. On the streets, it’s a free-for-all.” 

And how does one create this sort of ‘art’? For Kureshi, the foremost thing is to work on the idea. Sharpening your mind trumps sharpening your skills. Of course, the execution is important too, Kureshi adds. “But typography, portraiture, you name it — there are people who can do it. What I can bring to the table, is the idea.”

The next step is training your eyes to be able to differentiate between what’s good and what’s not. Browsing through genres of art, design and culture beyond your immediate interests helps, advises Hanif. “If I’m listening to R&B and Hip-hop, that doesn’t mean I should rule out Indian classical.”

The last thing is to detach yourself from the fallacious idea that the quality of your work depends upon the equipment at your disposal. You don’t need fancy equipment or the latest gizmo. “If you have a strong idea, even just drawing it on a piece of paper should be enough.”

The goal is to foster the democratisation of art, making it accessible to people of all political, social and financial strata. Kureshi believes that this is a revolution in the making, that will override age-old notions of art being complex and aloof. That will strip art of its classist undertones and help it reach the masses. Kureshi knows, having worked on this cause for the better part of the last decade, that changes as mammoth as this one take their time: “I hope that in our lifetime, we get to see that.”

As we reach the end of the episode, we sign off with some rapid 🔥 questions. Get the popcorn and start reading!