An artist has used the occasion of India’s historic moon landing to draw attention to a more earthly issue – pothole-ridden roads – in the southern metropolis of Bengaluru.
India will attempt to become the fourth country to successfully soft land on the moon on Friday after its Chandayaan-2 lander separated from the orbiter on Monday.
Painter Baadal Nanjundaswamy who has previously used over two dozen art installations to get the local authorities to act on civic issues, roped in a professional actor to play an astronaut exploring craters on a city road.
The artist said the people of the locality also lent a hand as he converted the road into the moon surface.
“The residents were very cooperative. Some of them even regulated the movement of vehicles on the road so that we could convert a pothole into a moon surface. Some volunteered to supply water to us to mix the colours,” Mr Nanjundaswamy told the Bangalore Mirror.
The video of the "moonwalking" astronaut has not only gone viral but like most of his previous projects, resulted in the local authorities swinging into action to repair the road.
Baadal Nanjundaswamy has been using art to get authorities to act on civic issues faced by citizens. Source: Facebook
Mr Nanjundaswamy has been using his art to get authorities to act on civic issues for a number of years. Ahead of this year's general election in India, he came up with an installation that asked people to vote 'NOTA' (None of the above) if an uncovered manhole wasn't covered.
While the artist's work has won him many accolades, residents from different parts of the city are inviting him to highlight the issues in their areas.
