Graffiti News
Lamka graffiti and the artists keeping home in view
Lamka graffiti makes a place and its people visible through letters, stories and images. In its 2 October 2026 feature, ThePrint follows creatives in Lamka, the district headquarters of Churachandpur in Manipur, India. The publication reports that peace has not been restored after ethnic violence began on 3 May 2023. Its focus is how people continue making work while carrying memories of loss and change.
For street-art readers, the useful connection is between public images and other objects that carry a town's identity. ThePrint describes walls, paintings, clothes and fridge magnets as different ways of remembering Lamka. Understanding these works starts with their makers' explanations, rather than treating every regional symbol as having one agreed meaning.
What does Lamka graffiti express?
P. Chinkhanlian, 26, works as TopDog and uses public spaces to make Lamka known. According to ThePrint, his practice includes letter-based graffiti and concept art drawing on folklore, social issues and political issues. His interest grew through hip-hop culture, including graffiti he encountered in music videos and live shows.
ThePrint also describes art as a way for Chinkhanlian to process feelings he struggled to express verbally. He grew up witnessing arguments connected to his father's heavy drinking, while his family faced financial difficulties. Making art with available materials offered an outlet. Violence and uncertainty later pushed his attention beyond appearance toward identity, memory, resilience and hope.
His ambition to represent Lamka extends to exchanges with international graffiti writers. ThePrint reports that he tells collaborators where he comes from; some have called him Lamka Boy. That recognition describes personal connections within graffiti, rather than a documented visitor route or a list of public artworks.
TopDog uses folklore and maps across different media
Phaizang Kumpinu, or The Valley Queen, is a hand-painted watercolour, according to ThePrint. It draws on Thanghou and Liandou, two brothers abandoned by their mother and left to survive on their own. Chinkhanlian connects the story with relations between hill and valley communities and explores the need for unity among hill tribes.
Another work uses digital imagery to question physical borders dividing Zomi people across Myanmar, India and Bangladesh. ThePrint explains that, for TopDog, Zoland does not necessarily mean forming a separate country. His emphasis is dignity, autonomy and belonging in the lands people call home. This is the artist's stated perspective, rather than a position that can be assigned to everyone represented.
ThePrint also describes a bleeding map of Manipur with barbed wire. The work questions opposition to hill people's demands and calls for understanding, mutual respect and trust. A separate wall painting pays tribute to Zomi MLA Pu Vungzagin Valte. The source provides no exact address or production date for that wall.
Healing is an aim the artist describes
TopDog sees public spaces as possible settings for creativity, conversation and shared identity. According to ThePrint, he understands healing as rebuilding trust, restoring relationships and creating opportunities to move forward with dignity. He also sees graffiti as a means of speaking and asking questions when other systems fail to listen.
These statements explain his purpose; they do not establish a measured outcome for a mural. ThePrint says he finds hope in ordinary people continuing to help one another, work, study, create and dream. That everyday activity gives context to images that might otherwise be read only through the violence surrounding them.
David Guite paints homes and ordinary life
David Guite, 28, is a self-taught fine artist working with pencil on paper and acrylic on canvas. ThePrint reports that violence restricted travel for exhibitions and led him to abandon plans for an art degree at Imphal Art College. Difficulty concentrating on detailed realism prompted him to explore acrylic painting, which he found therapeutic.
One painting places a house where a person's head would be, representing displaced people whose thoughts remain with homes they had to leave. According to ThePrint, Ka Inn means My Home and was inspired by families who built homes over years in Imphal before leaving and starting again in relief camps.
Guite also paints traditional attire, shawls, gatherings, landscapes, clay pots, and cane and bamboo handicrafts. ThePrint records his interest in dawn roadside vendors, women selling vegetables in cane baskets, rickshaw pullers and tea stalls where people gather with coffee and newspapers. He wants paintings to preserve these scenes for future generations.
Clothing and souvenirs carry the same connection to place
H. Liansuanlal, 24, owns the Lamka clothing brand Jugali.clo. According to ThePrint, he wants people outside Manipur to know Lamka through its culture and creativity. The source lists TopDog collaborations among the brand's collections. Longer transport routes can make overall operations almost twice as expensive, complicating the local venture.
Chingbiaklian, 26, makes fridge magnets after struggling to find souvenirs representing her hometown. ThePrint describes designs featuring Nute Bazaar, an all-women-oriented market, and Paupu, a large black-and-white auto associated with Lamka. People living away recognise details and share memories. The small object becomes another surface for the town's everyday stories.
Music adds another way to hear Lamka
Seimuankhup, 23, performs as TrustKhup and creates hip-hop intended to help people feel seen and heard, ThePrint reports. Tuailai, meaning Youth, responds to drug use and addiction he observed among young people in Lamka. It samples V. Siampu's Hit tuailai and encourages listeners to keep going through difficulty.
For readers comparing how places appear in street art, the Wallscape map offers a starting point for exploring mapped work. ThePrint's feature does not confirm that these particular walls are listed there or provide visiting instructions. Its strongest contribution is the artists' own context: home can appear as a public image, a painted memory or an object carried elsewhere.