Street To Studio is a curated walkthrough of the Lodhi Art District and Gallery XXL for the Young Collectors’ Programme. This walkthrough will begin in Lodhi Colony, where we will delve into the history and creation of India’s first public art district, highlighting Hanif’s significant role as an Artist, Artistic Director, and Co-Founder of St+art India Foundation. The first part of the tour will feature 4-5 murals and will then proceed to the gallery. The second part of the walkthrough will focus on Hanif’s studio practice, specifically the four series of works exhibited as part of sabr, ghar, suroor.
Led by the St+art India and XXL team, the curated tour will look at the history of urban contemporary art in public and enclosed spaces. Since 2015, 50 renowned street artists from across the world have been invited by St+Art India Foundation to create the Lodhi Art District making it India’s first art district which has now become a cultural hub, inviting people of all creative practices to engage with the city and share a collective experience within the geography of Lodhi Colony.
About Hanif Kureshi
Hanif Kureshi was an Indian artist and designer celebrated for his work with typography. He focused on reviving India’s native languages graphically, abstracting their scripts to create impactful text-based and mixed-media installations. Hanif spearheaded the Handpainted Type Project, an initiative dedicated to preserving and archiving vernacular typography, a form of street-based expression in India that is gradually disappearing.
His contribution as a Co-Founder, Artistic Director and Artist within St+art India Foundation, Guerrilla Art & Design, XXL Collective and Gallery XXL has garnered immense appreciation from creatives from various disciplines. St+Art, in particular, has been a driving force behind the street art movement in India building art districts like Lodhi Art District across the country.
Hanif’s extensive oeuvre as an independent street artist included widely acclaimed murals, installations, and mixed media projects. Notable examples include the Swarovski Mela in Austria (2017), featuring a HandPaintedType installation curated by Manish Arora; Chakraview at the First London Design Biennale (2016), presented in collaboration with Sumant Jayakrishnan and the India Design Forum at Somerset House; the Pavilion Design for India at Grand Palais, Ephemera, Paris (2021); Les Extatiques : La Défense in Paris (2018), curated by Fabrice Bousteau; Triennale Design Museum, New India Designscape, Milan (2012); and COMMERCIAL BREAK, Garage Projects, 54th Venice Biennale (2011). In recognition of his impact, GQ magazine named Kureshi one of the 50 most influential young Indians in 2016.
The artist’s works were last exhibited at Wildstyle Gallery in Uppsala, Sweden in June 2024 before his passing in September 2024.