Students from the Bachelor of Visual Arts held an exhibition on the bridge linking buildings at the Gordon. The exhibition explored mans impact on nature. I exhibited 3 works, Forest Suburbia, Breath and Harbinger Tweet.
BREATH
BREATH
The bridge linking these buildings straddles the railway line. Each day many trains rattle there way under the bridge pulled by diesel engines. The residue of the fumes from these engines can be seen on the outside structure of the bridge and can be smelt as they waft up from the tracks. These fumes are not only unpleasant but are toxic and very dangerous in large measure.
Our Australian skies over all are relatively clean. But in other countries where there are fewer regulations, air quality has enormous impact and ramifications. China is home to 16 of the worlds worst air polluted cities. Coal has been the main reason. China has large deposits of coal and most is of the high sulpher variety, resulting in extensive air pollution. (Interestingly another name for sulpher is brimstone.) The skies in industrial areas are so choked by the factory fumes that the horizon is never seen. An estimated 400,000 premature deaths a year are caused by respiratory diseases. 600,000 Chinese coal miners suffer from black lung increasing by 70,000 each year.
Tens of thousands of Chinas’ coalmines are run by small unscrupulous operators who avoid air quality laws and safety regulations through the corruption of local bureaucrats. One mine owner even cut a hole in the Great Wall to avoid paying road tolls.
Consumption of goods has increased in the western world largely due to the cheap production of those goods in China. The cheap energy from coal has an expensive outcome in air quality and those breathing it.
‘Breath’ -There is a narrow gap above the perspex window allowing air to flow from outside. Three heads hang over this gap. They are androgynous and green representing no particular race, representing all. They are upside down, vulnerable and powerless. They move and breathe with the little movement of air from the outside and the push and pull from people walking by.
Lamp Black, soot, covers the chests of the three heads. The label on the jar of Lamp Black used, ironically has a large black X with a warning ‘Not to be inhaled’. Were the workers producing this substance given such a warning?
Appreciate breath. Take a deep breath.
