In a world forever exploding with art, where creativity can be a ruthless affair, extolling upon artists the burden to reproduce gems, time and again, Kajal Singh has made light-work of the pressure. She's a tad bit shy, notoriously reclusive and an artist of epic proportions. India's first well known graffiti artist, Kajal is enjoying fame and global recognition. Here's her unsung story.
Kajal Singh is quite a hippie that girls of her free-spirited nature are known to be. Ever a free-willed person, she never likes to settle in one place. At the moment, Kajal is running multiple projects in India (Mumbai, Delhi), Siberia (former USSR) and the melting pot of graffiti artists- Berlin, Germany.
Her unusual mélange of graffiti art makes love to themes such as peace, freedom and individual self-expression. Her habit, i.e., graffiti tends to be often an extension of her own gypsy personality.
Kajal confesses to being big on pop music and street dancing, a massively popular art form in the USA in 2008. She's an incredible follower of hip-hop, a music form fast being represented on world dancing stage by artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye West and the bombastic Lil Wayne.
Over the last few years, the hitherto less-known Kajal Singh has begun to gain popularity in India. But her earlier successes came from lands, alien to graffiti's propulsion in India- US, Germany and Serbia. Kajal Singh is a self-confessed fan of the eclectic hip hop movement that comprises of rap, DJing, B-boying and Graffiti.
Kajal Singh aka Dizy went from being a fan of poster boys of the illegal world of Graffiti art to being a rising force of the art form herself. But at first, she was only drawn to music, knowing very little about graffiti. A widely traveled soul, it was post 2008 that Kajal first encountered the electrifying beautiful graffiti art form. She was moved by the wondrous world of spray paints and the magic they brought forth to life.
Her brother too is a major fan of Graffiti art and hip-hop music. Her mother is a painter and led young Kajal early on toward an interest in the creative arts. Kajal was herself pretty competitive in both academics and sports, but was a perfect balance of being shyly coy and notoriously free-spirited.
There are many shades to the versatile 22 year old girl. She's actually an accomplished exponent of Bharatnatyam, having aced many a competition here in India and can shake her body in perfect rhythm to swinging hip hop beats.
For most graffiti artists, unless you are a certain Banksy (iconic Briton), you find yourself to be under an artists' tutelage if you are to make it big. But ever since coming in first contact with the amazingly creative graffiti world, the bro-sis duo self-trained to master graffiti. Watching dynamic and luscious online videos, following closely the emerging trends and patterns of world graffiti artists, they were soon able to develop their own versatile range of eclectic graffiti art form.
What sets Kajal Singh apart from other artists in the bracket is her relentless will to pursue her craft. Most artists withdraw from showcasing their work once permission isn't granted. Many refrain from allowing their work to come to public light. Kajal, on the other hand, sticks to painting abandoned spaces, which then turn into emphatic interaction zones for other artists.
Germany's propensity to spin heads around its cultural art movement is iconic. In 2014, it gave a chance to Kajal Singh to be a part of the 2nd international Graffiti and Hip-Hop project team organized by German Consulate and Hip-Hop Stutzpunkt to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the great Berlin Wall.
With art at the cornerstone of success and adulation in India, one feels the hour of Graffiti art recognition has come. It is but due to the creative spark of artists like Dizy aka Kajal Singh, that a new groove has begun dancing to India's tune
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