As Walk of Shame gets painted over, artist says purpose complete

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra's name on the Walk of Shame; a painted over Walk of Shame graffiti. Pics/Tylerstreetart

Street artist Tyler's Walk of Shame, a project of naming and shaming public personalities that had been on since August 15, was covered with black paint on Tuesday. The move came after some political leaders tweeted about the project.

The names which were painted on the Walk of Shame include TV anchors Arnab Goswami, Sudhir Chaudhary and Amish Devgan, actress Kangana Ranaut and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.

Kangana Ranaut's and TV anchor Sudhir Chaudhary's name on the Walk of Shame

The tweets opposing the Walk of Shame started on September 1 with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national convenor Devang Dave's tweet. Dave questioned Mumbai police and the BMC in his tweet saying he "strongly objects respected people be shamed this way." It was retweeted by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, saying, "What's wrong with Mah Govt & Mum Police? It's not possible unless it's state sponsored. Shameful."

Later, Patra retweeted Agnihotri's tweet, saying, "So this is what 'tolerance' for the liberals boils down to? Just imagine if the same would have been done for 'Sonia Gandhi'/'Rahul'/'Zakir Naik' in a BJP ruled state (sic)." Actress Kangana Ranaut also joined the personalities in tweeting about the issue. Earlier, on August 25, anchor Chaudhary had tweeted about Walk of Shame that "tolerance is a two way street."

A Walk of Shame painted over in black

Art has come full circle

Tyler told mid-day that his artwork being painted over in black shows that it has achieved its purpose. According to him, the names were painted over around 6 pm on Tuesday.

BMC's P/South ward tweeted at 6.30 pm on Wednesday, saying that they had received complaints regarding "unauthorised markings" on the road, based on which they informed the local police and painted over the Walk of Shame.

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri's tweet

"Only when something has been whitewashed does it mean that the art has been successful in hitting the right people with the message. The quicker it gets pulled down, the harder it has hit the people you were calling out," Tyler said.

The street artist was also being allegedly hounded on social media since Tuesday morning over his work. "My art has come full circle. These individuals who tweeted about it on Twitter and their social media, informed their fans and followers that they have been named and shamed publicly, which is exactly what I wanted," he said.

When asked if there will be another Walk of Shame, he said, "Maybe if people really want to see it and if I get a lot of requests, then it's a possibility."

5
No. of public personalities that got a Walk of Shame

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