Gali ke Sher, Lions of the Streets, is a personal project that explores the subculture of street tattooing in India. 

Despite being illegal in India, street tattoo artists fulfil the desires of millions of Indians wanting to be tattooed but can’t afford studios. By cutting down on hygiene equipment, building their own tattoo machine and using the pavement as their studio, the street artists make tattoos accessible for the people, and profitable for themselves. Unfortunately, those from the higher economic stratas in India, don’t see beyond the lack of hygiene and dismiss them from being recognised as ‘artists’, therefore making the profession illegal. The setups are elaborate and gaudy, but can also be dismantled quickly if one needs to flee from a cop. 

You can easily recognise a tattoo done by these artists by just looking at the subject of the design. In this mixed media project, I have reimagined the 
religious iconography, neo-tribal designs, cobras, hearts with daggers, etc, drawn by these artists, in a contemporary way, without losing the gritty 
essence of this culture.  

Through this project, I wish to explore the class divide, and destigmatize street tattooing by giving viewers a close-up view of the artists' worlds, and talent, despite not having fancy machines, studio furniture or any education in arts. 

On asking a street tattoo artist in Delhi if he wishes to work from a studio, he replied saying, "why be someone's rat in a studio when I can be the lion of my street?"

Follow my documentation of this project here.