05 September,2020 07:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Gaurav Sarkar
When people whom Tyler shamed publicly by painting their names on an unnamed road in Malad, took to social media to express their ire, the BMC covered the names with black paint. Pics/Tylerstreetart
Street artist Tyler's original Instagram handle @tylerstreet, which was mysteriously disabled on Thursday afternoon without an explanation by the app's authorities, was reactivated after 24 hours (on Friday) as surreptitiously as it had first disappeared.
Speaking to mid-day, Tyler said that he had received no notification from Instagram for first blocking his account, and then reactivating it without a reason given once again. "My account was activated today in the same manner in which it was blocked yesterday," he said.
"This (blocking and then activating) is an intimidation tactic that I have seen so far only in the movies. It's like sending a message to me, that if I go down the same road with my art again, my account will be blocked forever," he said.
Tyler had been working on his latest project called 'Walk of Shame' all of the last month, up until last week when the people whom he named and shamed publicly by painting their names on an unnamed road in Malad, took to social media to express their ire. After this the BMC covered up the names on the street with black paint. Tyler told mid-day, "I am pretty sure that it was the Walk of Shame project that triggered the disabling of my account. I say that because I have been creating political graffiti for years now, but had never received this kind of reaction to it."
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When asked what he thought was the reason that his account was reactivated on Friday, he said that it was the art community which defended his right to dissent and freedom of expression, which played a big role. "I am confused as to whether to bring the Walk of Shame project back," he said.
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