Artistic Expressions on the Vehicles

Abstract

The heritage of ‘transport’ is as ancient as the human existence; transport has much more significance than the ‘movement’. The phenomenon of transport entails the connection of cultures, carrier of ideas as well as innovations, which gradually led to the evolution of civilizations. The invention of wheel made the process dynamic, and various modes of transport became one of the niches to represent culture of people. Like various monuments, various modes of transport couldn’t remain untouched with the creative expressions, besides, the transport theme also found place often in various folk tales and folklores. The paper brings forth a different aspect of transport where one couldn’t refrain from visualizing that the world of transport is so colourful. It encapsulates briefly the development of art and craftsmanship on the modes of transport in Indian context. The beautiful transport collection from the ‘Heritage Transport Museum’ shall be used to highlight the association of visual & literary arts with the transport modes. ‘Heritage Transport Museum’ opened its doors to the public in December 2013 in an industrial belt of Gurgaon, and it is set up with the objective of evolving a multi experiential facility exploring the historicity of transportation in India. Light would also be thrown on the ’Street Jewellery’ Project, which has been initiated by the Museum to document and preserve the various forms of artistic expressions on the vehicles. On the whole the key factors that shall be talked about comprise of the background history of vehicle decoration, some specimens from the Museum collection, the process of documentation, paucity of ample research available, and the preservation of this dying art.