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Street Stickers

I have a small obsession with street artwork. You can get framed pictures of various Hindu gods for about Rs. 200 ($2) from various street shops. I can rarely find them on demand, but there’s usually one near a kovil, especially near the port. I’ve also found them in Vavuniya and parts of Dehiwela. I went to Sri Kethireseran street to one familiar shop, but it was closed. Instead I found a push cart on the street selling these stickers. They are awesome. I’ve uploaded some photos of the set here. They include Mahinda Rajapakse, MG, baby Ganesh hugging a lingam, Hanuman, baby Krishna, Kali, etc.

The guy selling them told me some of the stories. Shiva is Ganesh’s father I knew, but I’d never seen a family portrait before (with baby Katharagama as well). There was also some weird situation where Shiva and Parvati got in a fight and Shiva made a half Shiva half Parvati, I didn’t buy or understand that. Then there are the traditional babies and now images of Mahinda. I bought a bunch of stickers and paid about Rs. 400.

Posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 in Art, Religion, Sri Lanka, print, tamils.

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6 Comments »

Comment by realskullzero

2009-07-20 10:42:58

whoow great…

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Comment by Coconut

2009-07-20 11:07:47

Stick them all over your car and make people believe its a threewheeler !

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Comment by tharanga

2009-07-20 11:58:01

i like the MR one..picture of a great leader of our times..

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Comment by dd

2009-07-20 12:50:41

Wonderful!
Design Mag recently based their cover and did a feature on taxi art in Mumbai. They actually got the Indian street artists to design a taxi. The typography was wonderful.
You must inspire a series about the scooter taxi art in Colombo.

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Comment by Girigoris the One

2009-07-20 18:22:45

Gosh dat one of H.E. the prez Mahinda Rajapakse is way controversial innit?!
Notice the mirrored SL flag on the left- dats just plain disrespectful, what?
Is it even allowed to print this kinda inverted flag? Think dis is a conspiracy… N to cunnigly include it in a sticker of the great one- Gad, the nerve

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Pingback by indi.ca » Christmas Gift Ideas

2009-12-22 12:31:35

[...] effect. If you’re lucky there’s a guy in that neighborhood (and I suppose any) with amazing stickers. They have Mahinda, Tamil movie stars, Hindu Gods, Shiva, Ganesh and Kathirigama as kids, great [...]

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