Khatra's Bold Street Art Transforms Hyderabad into Dynamic Open Gallery
In the fast-evolving and multi-layered landscape of India's street art movement, Siddharth Gohil, who goes by the artistic moniker Khatra, has been actively transforming Hyderabad into a vibrant open-air gallery with his bold and disruptive artistic instincts. The Vadodara-based mural and graffiti artist traces his distinctive name back to his formative college days.
From College Experiment to Artistic Identity
Khatra began experimenting with stencil graffiti inspired by the ubiquitous "danger" warning signs, creatively replacing the standard symbols with powerful visuals that reflect pressing social issues and contemporary realities. His friends started calling him "Danger," and this label endured, eventually crystallizing into his permanent artistic identity that he carries forward in his work today.
Participating in Wall Art India Festival
Khatra is currently in Hyderabad for the fifth edition of the Wall Art India festival, an ambitious urban art movement that connects India and France. The festival runs from February 10 to March 9 and is organized by the extensive Alliance Française network across India. This month-long artistic celebration spans an impressive fifteen cities and brings together four internationally recognized artists, including three from France and one Indian artist.
At the Alliance Française de Hyderabad, Khatra is working on a large-scale façade mural. The piece is an abstract composition that spans multiple sections of the building, drawing rich inspiration from both French and Indian visual traditions. Warm and cool tones interplay dynamically across layered forms, producing a vibrant and playful rhythm. Typography, which remains his enduring love, is cleverly embedded within the composition, even as it sometimes dissolves into intricate pattern work.
Previous Memorable Projects in Hyderabad
This visit is not Khatra's first artistic engagement with Hyderabad. One of his most memorable projects was at the Maktha Art District in 2016. At that time, working as a graphic designer with the St+art India Foundation, he initially assisted other artists. Towards the project's conclusion, a small group, including Khatra, was given a wall of their own to create.
Exploring the neighborhood for inspiration, they conceived a humorous and slightly absurd mural depicting an old man with a single tooth holding a toothbrush with just one bristle. This playful artwork deeply resonated with local residents, especially children, who gathered around the wall as it vividly came to life. "It was spontaneous and community-driven," Khatra fondly recalls of that impactful experience.
Large-Scale Socially Conscious Murals
Another significant and large-scale work by Khatra is the panoramic mural at Chennai's Indira Nagar railway station, which is touted to be India's largest of its kind. This ambitious project took nearly two months to complete and aimed to de-stigmatize the HIV and AIDS affected community while empowering them and sharing hopeful stories of survivors through powerful visual narratives.
Artistic Roots and Evolution
As a child, Khatra was fascinated by letterforms, diligently filling sketchbooks with carefully drawn alphabets. This early curiosity matured into formal studies in typography and graphic design during art college, complemented by dedicated training in traditional calligraphy techniques.
A major turning point in his career came when he began working with Anik Pureshi, the founder of the St+art India Foundation. Under this mentorship, Khatra witnessed first-hand the shaping and growth of India's contemporary street art movement, observing its evolution from grassroots graffiti to organized public art festivals that gain global recognition.
"Graffiti began as a form of protest," Khatra reflects thoughtfully. "It was fundamentally about writing slogans and names as a potent political expression. Over time, artists developed distinct hand styles, and eventually, it evolved into street art with greater scale, conceptual depth, and international recognition."
Resisting a Single Style and Expanding Practice
Despite his growing portfolio of large public murals, Khatra consciously resists being defined by a single, rigid artistic style. His visual language continues to evolve organically through constant experimentation with color, form, and diverse materials.
Recently, he has expanded his practice into studio work, focusing on typography on canvas and exploring new artistic surfaces beyond traditional concrete walls. Khatra has participated in several group exhibitions and is actively preparing fresh, innovative works for an upcoming show, demonstrating his ongoing commitment to artistic growth and exploration.
