Ladies First Street Art Festival

Street art and muralism in India have grown rapidly since the 2010s, with cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad developing significant mural cultures. However, the street art scene is predominantly male, and women muralists have fewer opportunities for large-scale public commissions. Ladies First was created specifically to address this: by dedicating an entire festival to women street artists, it creates a concentrated moment of feminist public visual culture that transforms Dehradun's walls while also building networks and visibility for women in the street art ecosystem. Dehradun, as a mid-sized Himalayan city that is less art-world-saturated than the metros, offers a context where the murals can genuinely transform public space rather than add to an already-dense visual landscape.