Tuesday 8th October

To accompany the launch of Dryden Goodwin’s Breathe:Lahore on sites across the city we hosted the Breathe:Lahore Knowledge Exchange Symposium at the beautiful Alhamra Arts Centre, in partnership with Lahore Biennale Foundation and Pakistan Air Quality Initiative

Supported by UCL and featuring figures from across arts, research, policy, law, campaigning and business in Pakistan, including some key voices from the UK, this event aims explored the potential of the arts and cross-sector working in driving action on air pollution in Lahore and beyond – and sought to share vital knowledge and learnings between London and Lahore; the global north and the global south.

The impact of Breathe to date in London lies in its unique methodology of animating a city’s infrastructure and collaborating with the key stakeholders – public transport providers, scientific and research institutions, campaigner and advocacy groups, politicians and policymakers, local and city councils, business improvement districts, law professionals, and educational establishments – who are in the position to drive action around air quality in our cities. We have sought to replicate this methodology in Lahore, with this event bringing together some key Lahore counterparts working to bring about change in the city and beyond.

Appearing at iconic sites across the city for the Biennale Including Bradlaugh Hall, the PTCL Building Mall Road, the Metro Line, and underpasses, Breathe:Lahore – the artwork grown by Goodwin to include drawings of Abid Omar, founder of Pakistan Air Quality Initiative – highlights the public health crisis caused by declining air quality in what is now the world’s most polluted mega-city.

Breathe seeks to connect a diverse network of clean air innovators, a global ‘collective’ of individuals who each endeavour, with urgency and resistance, to bring about local transformation. In doing so, their actions contribute incrementally to confronting the global air pollution emergency and the need for radical and lasting change. 

This event was hosted as part of the Lahore Biennale 03 ‘Of Mountains and Seas’, curated by John Tain.

Further documentation and write-up to follow.

Speakers and Panelists (full bios on the above programme)

Dryden Goodwin – Breathe Artist

Lucy Wood – Breathe Producer and Art-Science Producer, Invisible Dust

Abid Omar, Founder, Pakistan Air Quality Initiative

John Tain, Curator – Lahore Biennale 03

Laila Jamil – Director Arts, British Council Pakistan

Rafay Alam – Environmental Lawyer

Abdul Waris Hameed  – Research Associate, Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research

Favad Soomro – Director, Engro Foundation

Ahmad Ali Gul – Assistant Professor, Director Center for Disaster Management  – School of Governance and Society

Dr Javed Gondal – CEO (Acting) Brooke Pakistan

Isra Imtiaz – Research Consultant – London School of Economics

Maha Husain – Team Lead of the Climate & Environment Initiative (CEI) and Research Associate at the Research Society of International Law

UK and International Voices joining via Video Message

Dr Ian Mudway Imperial College – Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health at Imperial College

Ruth Fitzharris, Campaigning Lead, Mums for Lungs UK

Jairaj Mashru, Advisor – Design, Innovation and Creative Entrepreneurship, Global Creative Economy Council

Mayor Of London, Sadiq Kahn – will also feature in the event with a short film showcasing his support for the project to date