One of Jim Bachor’s popsicle mosaics

He’s filled potholes earlier with mosaics of flowers

At Bangalore (India), Badal Nanjundasamy paints Yama, the god of death in Hindu mythology

Montreal-based Claudia Ficca and Davide Luciano have fun

Down the rabbit hole / CF, DL

Doughnuts, anyone/ CF, DL

The last time potholes really had our attention was almost three years ago, when Russian ad agency Voskhod painted local politicians’ faces around garish potholes in the town of Yekaterinburg. Over the years and particularly during our stay in India, bumpy rides have come to be a way of life. There’s the initial irritation over a wheel jumping into a hole, some amount of cursing the government for not getting around to fixing them, and then resignation – this has almost come to be a ritual. But when we happened to chance upon Chicago-based Jim Bachor’s ‘art-titude’ towards potholes, it was pleasant to see how the issue had become apolitical in that it did not scream for attention from the government. Instead, the passive activism appears more of a manifestation of citizen ownership. And, a good sense of art and humor.

Taking it upon himself to fix potholes, Bachor began the Treats in the Streets series by filling potholes with mosaics of ice cream, having earlier played around with mosaics of flowers. And only a few days before did the handiwork of anonymous artist ‘Wanksy’ come to be noticed by the authorities of Greater Manchester, England. The pothole gardener has other ‘cleaner’ ideas. By creating little oases in potholes, Steve Wheen aims at getting people to question the environment they live in. And if you aren’t green-thumbed but still want to help, you can pitch in by watering the creations on your way. You shouldn’t miss out on photographers Claudia Ficca’s and Davide Luciano‘s tongue-in-cheek work. From pop culture references to the good old pothole fixes of appearing to fish/swim/bathe in one of them, their images explore a humorous dimension to a civic problem. They’ll tell you they’ve tasted success overnight, too.

Meanwhile, closer home, several things have been tried. From prayer ceremonies to name potholes after gods to letting ducks swim in them, the tricks have been many but results few. May be it’s time we got our ‘art-titude’ towards potholes right!