This artist’s designs depict life on the streets of Chennai

Chennai’s bylanes can be incredibly vibrant. With shops and street vendors going about their daily activities, they are teeming with life at any point of the day. Twenty-four-year-old designer from the city, Shree Varshini, wanted her illustrations to be a reflection of the way people work and live on the city’s streets. Through the art project, 36 Days of Type, which involves designers from around the world sharing their interpretations of the alphabet, Varshini decided to embark on a journey that would help her understand the lives of roadside vendors.

“As part of the project, global designers share their designs on Instagram, of which some are aimed at breaking the norms and fighting taboos in their respective societies. Through my interpretations of the alphabet, I wanted to explore the lives of various communities in our city. For instance, each of the alphabet is assigned to a commonTamil name, and the kind of professions they could be into, their backgrounds, along with the way they dress. Through their clothing I explored the patterns and prints that are seen across the city,” Varshini tells DT Next.

In her series of digital illustrations as part of 36 Days of Type, the designer allocates the letter ‘E’ to a woman named Eashwari, who presses clothes and wears a big bindi on her forehead. The lady, dressed in a blue chiffon saree with blue and red motifs, can remind one of someone who irons clothes in his or her neighbourhood. The letter ‘K’ is a candy floss seller named Kadhir dressed in a striped shirt, who looks like someone we might have come across on the Marina Beach.

“Whenever I stepped onto the streets, I took photographs of several street vendors for the sake of this project. My mother and I would take the car and go around the city capturing them on camera and interacting with them. The photographs served as a reference for my illustrations,” she explains. Many shopkeepers and vendors, however, were intrigued about being photographed, which allowed her to hold conversations with them on her art project, Varshini adds.

“Street fashion, which refers to casual clothing, is different in our country compared to what it is world over. In the context of our city, one can notice a lot of checkered and patterned lungis, interesting caps worn by Muslim men and floral sarees in vibrant colours. I love our city for its charm and still prefer it calling it Madras,” she asserts.

The project also allowed the designer to share a piece of Chennai with the global community of artists, says Varshini. “I wanted people to notice street vendors and respect them for what they do. Even if their jobs may not be very significant, we cannot imagine our world without them,” she stresses.

With a graduate degree in accessory design from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai, and a master’s degree from Milan in Italy, Varshini says she is working on opening her design studio. “I have been drawn towards illustrations as a college student. Illustrations and pictorial representations can have a strong effect on humans — which is why films possess the ability to move us greatly. Illustrations can also play a great role in creating awareness on important issues,” she adds.