Asian Paints creates India's largest mural to spread awareness on HIV-AIDS

In a bid to break the stigma around HIV and AIDS, artists Akill and Khatra came together to paint a mural at the Indira Nagar metro station in Chennai. The project was backed by Asian Paints and featured portraits of people with and without AIDS in a bid to spread a message of equality and dignity.

The mural was almost 63,000 sq feet long, making it India’s largest mural. The artist’s intention was to put the portraits of HIV patients alongside the portraits of non-HIV positive individuals to illustrate the point of equality. “I’m sure nobody can differentiate who is the HIV patient and who isn’t. That was the core concept behind it,” says Akill.

The ad tells the story of Radhakrishnan – man who has tested HIV positive. We get a glimpse inside his life and the stigma around living as a HIV positive individual. He reveals that right from treatment to education – there is stigma and that has to change. Radhakrishnan explains that even school children who test HIV positive face discrimination in the society.