In a project called “painting with light,” researchers and artists teamed up to show the invisible air pollution in India, which poses health threats to the masses.
A combination of low-cost air pollution sensors and digital light painting enabled the scientific group to provide photographic evidence of pollution levels in cities across three countries: Ethiopia, India and UK for local community debate.
Their results published on Wednesday in Nature Communications Earth & Environment showed how pictures taken as a part of Air of the Anthropocene project led to discussions on air pollution issues.
The readings were made for two kids’ playgrounds located 500 km away from each other within India – one being in urban Delhi while another was situated at rural Palampur. The palampur PM2.5 values reached at least 12.5 times lower than those measured in Delhi’s part.
“Air pollution is the leading global environmental risk factor…These images are very easy to understand due to their high impact and help people across different areas comprehend what air pollution means by making something that is virtually invisible visible through light painting,” explained Robin Price, one of the creators of this initiative and an artist together with Francis Pope, an environmental scientist from Birmingham University.
“This art does not only create spaces and places but also provides forums where information can be shared about air pollution issues without necessarily using words,” added Francis Pope when asked about Art for Anthropocene’s purpose as well as how it works.
In Ethiopia too, there were large differences between locations of exposure: inside a kitchen where biomass stoves were used for cooking PM2.5 concentrations inside were up to 20 times higher than that detected outside nearby buildings.
At dusk in summer time during monitoring campaigns around Tata Steel-owned Port Talbot steelworks, notable spatial variation was observed; measurements taken at higher PM2.5 concentrations by evening photography exceeded hourly mean values for these evenings.
PM or particulate matter causes more human morbidities and mortalities than other air pollutants. It affects human health through various ways, including causing diseases such as heart attacks, cancer and stroke.
The “painting with light” team relied on low-cost air pollution sensors to measure PM mass concentrations. The value of each sensor was fed into a moving LED array so that as the PM concentration rose the flashing rate increased.
“Through using the light painting method, which does not require any scientific knowledge from audience, people could understand how controlling air pollution in society can improve their daily quality of life,” added Mr Price, who is also a photographer.
An artist takes a long exposure photograph whilst moving an LED array in front of the camera so that the flash appears as a dot on the photograph.
These artists are not visible in their photographs because they are always on the move but dots that represent bright lights can be noticed emanating from LEDs. In fact, more light spots will appear on photos if there is higher concentration of PM.
Anthropocene project has been displayed at galleries like Los Angeles, Belfast and Birmingham.
Additionally, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom and UN-Habitat also used it to raise awareness on air pollution by commissioning four paintings and texts on pollution light in Kampala, Uganda.
Air pollution is considered as one of the major threats to both environment and human health worldwide, causing death.
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 99% of the global population live with polluted air which causes about 7 million premature deaths every year across the world.
“A situation that is difficult especially in Asia where despite various policies and actions on air quality, India and China have still not solved their problem with air pollution. The quality of air has significantly deteriorated in African countries over last five decades,” a statement from University of Birmingham says.
