Mothers are a lot of things for a lot of us — caregiver, therapist, friend — but for cartoonist and painter Singarapu Shiva Rama Krishna, Krishna for short, his mother has been all this and more, including a teacher, to him. The first time she helped Krishna complete his drawing assignment was to save him from his father's wrath when he was in class II. He still remembers how his mother told him to 'have the patience to draw', an advice which the 27-year-old still holds close to his heart.
Since March last year, this artist's heart has been set on painting 3D zebra crossings on the road to spread the message of road safety. His work has caught the attention of New York Magazine, Tech Insider and other international media platforms. And if you have travelled from Karimnagar to Jagtial via the main road, you must have seen two of his works. These three 3D zebra crossings are aesthetically designed in a way not to surprise but alert the driver, who automatically slows down, if not for any other reason than just curiosity.
While Krishna doesn't directly paint on the roads usually, "I make it on a flex sheet," he says, for the one mentioned above, his client got all the necessary permission from the local authorities. And until now, it was all Krishna's handiwork, but this project required extra sets of hands. These hands belonged to his brothers, S Shiva Krishna and S Madhukar, "and I am proud to say, my mother, who offers several valuable suggestions," he adds, feeling grateful for his family.
Krishna takes one to three days to finalise the design and about ten hours to paint it, depending on how much help he gets, which has been one of his challenges. Another obvious problem is that of moving vehicles, which, "despite arranging traffic cones around the painting, drive over it." He tries to counter this by getting as many painters on board as possible to quicken the pace of the work. All this to take his art to as many places as possible and spread awareness. But, road safety is not his only cause; there are other social issues that he would like to paint for. Apart from spreading the culture of Telangana by creating paintings on occasions like Bathukamma, save the rivers and rainwater harvesting, he intends to do his bit to raise awareness. "If sponsors or the government come forward to support me, I will work on many more issues," the M Tech graduate says, passionately.
Krishna has five world records and three international certificates to his credit. Ask him which achievement he is most proud of and he says, "The achievements don't make an artist proud, his own art does," adding that he respects all that he has achieved till now. "But for my mother, my achievements are her jewels," he says, emotionally.
Check out his work here facebook.com/SSRK3DPaintings/
