Artistic revamp of Amritsar airport

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 18

As soon as global travellers land at the Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, they are greeted with a magnificent wall art with Phulkari patterns, with motifs of the mud houses typical of any village in Punjab decades earlier. Next to that, standing life-size sculptures of a young Punjabi man and women in traditional festival attire, giving the visitors a first taste of rich culture of the state.

In the baggage reclaim zone, one can find an impressive wall installation created out of copper sheets depicting the caravan of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. These tastefully created pieces of art are the work of city-based artist Sumeet Dua, who has taken it upon himself to give the airport an aesthetic makeover. “It all began around a year ago, when the Airport Authority of India, as part of their attempt to modernise major airports across the country, invited proposals for artistic revamp of SGRDI Airport, Rajasansi. What we didn’t want was for the airport to lack character and individuality. So, I have worked on the art pieces that reflect Punjab’s traditional and cultural identity,” said Dua, who runs his own art studio in city and earlier has transformed the some dull government and administrative buildings into his canvas.

According to him, the most remarkable art work is the copper installation depicting the caravan of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. “The recognisable image shows Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the height of Sikh Empire travelling to his summer palace with his companions, while the use of copper captures the extent of financial prosperity of the city at the time. An adjacent wall art made of gold plated patras set against Nanakshahi brick wall, throwing back the visitors to the time when sanctum sanctorum at Harmandir Sahib was gold plated at the behest of the Maharaja,” explained the artist.

Another significant art work is done at the check-in area, where one can find a series of three 80 feet long paintings in different themes. “The first painting is done in a unique technique consisting of bold, fluid strokes depicting the traditional games of Punjab such as Gatka, Horse riding and bullock cart racing. The second depicts a detailed panorama of the life in the streets of old city of Amritsar in the 17th century. While the third tries to capture the Parikarma around Harmandir Sahib,” said Dua. Some of the work also finds meaningful references with Hari-ke-Pattan. One such artwork likens the idea of visitors flying out of the city from the airport to migratory birds flying out of Harike every season.