New Delhi may not be the easiest city to live in.  Dust, noise, crowds, crime, traffic, extreme cold, extreme heat, red-tape, short tempers, aggression, frustration, and at the end of the day, exhaustion.  Many residents, here for a limited period due to education or a work assignment, end up waiting till they can leave.  Many here more permanently deal with the city by building walls—physical, emotional, psychological.  At best Delhi is to be tolerated.  At worst Delhi is to be hated. 

But Delhi is to be loved.  For many reasons.  And artists, playing that unique role of helping us see things as if we had never seen them before—and usually struggling with the same challenges the city throws at any of its citizens—have the potential to help us see our city with fresh eyes.

Over the course of 8 months, between March and November, 2019, Art for Change is running seven 10-day mini-residencies involving 15 New Delhi based artists at the Art for Change Studio/Office in Chattarpur Enclave Phase II with the aim of challenging ourselves to look at our city with eyes of appreciation, seeing the beauty that is and that could be.  A selection of the best works will be exhibited as a group show at the India Habitat Center - Open Palm Court Gallery, New Delhi, in February 5-11, 2020.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Abhinandita Mathur, the Arts, Culture and Language Advisor to the Deputy Chief Minister of the Delhi Government. She expressed her gratitude for the exhibition and coming together for reviving a love for the city. The following week saw over 600 participants, many of whom shared their stories in Delhi and went on to take part in our public collaboration wall to express what they love about Delhi most. 

We hope that such positive impacts go forward by the ways we treat each other and our city, for as one visitor said, 'if one loves the city, how can that person accept crime, pollution or corruption, you would want to fix it".