Breathe:Lahore – Creative intervention and symposium on clean air action, October 2024

‘A great example of how art isn’t just there to entertain, but to educate us, too‘

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Dryden Goodwin’s ‘Breathe‘ (The Art Newspaper, Oct 2023)

Breathe, the multi-site public artwork by artist and UCL Professor Dryden Goodwin has since 2012 utilised highly-visible artistic interventions to explore the global health emergency of air pollution. The work, which features over 1,300 original drawings made by Goodwin of clean air activists ‘fighting for breath’, took over bridges, buildings and billboards across London and the UK, has been viewed by 13 million people.

To date, Breathe has told London’s story of air pollution; generating wide public discourse and media coverage around health impacts, city infrastructure and the role of policy, but each city has its own 

We’re delighted to announce that Breathe now makes its international city debut in Lahore, Pakistan; the artwork grown by Goodwin to include a leading local clean-air campaigner.

Next stop – Pakistan!

At the invitation of the Lahore Biennale 03 (which launches 5th October 2024) and with the support of funds from UCL (where Dryden Goodwin is a Professor at Slade School of Fine Art), Goodwin’s new iteration of Breathe:Lahore will be presented on sites across the city of Lahore.

The new Pakistan clean air activist figure – identified and recruited through partner NGOs and bodies working within environment, health and policy in the region – has been filmed and drawn by Goodwin to join the ranks alongside the six other London clean air campaigners and residents (including Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE – whose daughter is the first person in the world to hair ‘air pollution’ listed as a cause of death).

Our aim is to form a chain of change-makers connecting London and Lahore; and an exciting, inter-city dialogue around the role of public arts in driving clean air action, connecting the global south to the global north.

About Lahore Biennale LB03

Lahore Biennale LB03: ‘Of Mountains and Seas‘, curated by John Tain, asks artists to link their own contexts with Pakistan’s calamitous floods, environment and agriculture, urban pollution and social inequality. 

Installed on sites around the city of Lahore, and accompanied by a knowledge exchange workshop, Breathe: Lahore is part of Invisible Dust creating awareness of the complexity of climate issues in fast-growing global south cities; Lahore’s population growth was from 5 to 14 million between 2000–2024.

Why Lahore? 

Air pollution is a critical environmental issue that disproportionately affects the Global South. The rapid pace of urbanisation in the Global South has also contributed significantly to air pollution, as people migrate from rural areas to cities in search of better economic opportunities, urban areas become densely populated, leading to increased vehicular traffic, construction activities and energy consumption.

Major Pakistan cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, and Peshawar face significant challenges with air pollution due to rapid urbanisation and high concentration of vehicles alongside agricultural practices, the brick kiln industry and the burning of biomass and solid fuels for cooking and heating.

Breathe highlights the fact that we don’t all breathe the same air; emphasising that our socio-economic status often impacts the air we breathe. In each new destination, Breathe seeks to collaborate with and provide a high-profile platform for those most impacted and vulnerable in our cities.

Replicated Methodology

In London, Breathe collaborated with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Transport for London, Network Rail, Imperial College, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and another 60+ key organisations working within health, environment and policy to best animate public discourse on air pollution and signpost real world, tangible change (like the ULEZ extension, ‘Ella’s Law’). This methodology for leveraging impact will be replicated in Lahore – and we are connecting up with the key agencies and individuals striving to make change in the region – such as the amazing crowd-sourced, community-driven Pakistan Air Quality Initiative.

Breathe: Lahore: Knowledge Exchange Workshop

On 8th October, to accompany the launch of Breathe across the city and with the support of the Global Creative Economy Council and UCL, Invisible Dust will be delivering a Breathe Global Knowledge Exchange Workshop connecting up clean air efforts in Pakistan and the UK in Lahore, supported by AHRC funding.

Attended by figures and agencies representing both UK and Pakistan efforts on air pollution from within arts, policy, environment and city infrastructure, the symposium be hosted as part of the 3rd Lahore Biennale at the Alhamra Arts Centre, Lahore.

Comparing what we learn from mounting the project in the contrasting city contexts of London and Lahore, and bringing together key actors working in both Pakistan and the UK, this symposium will enrich understanding of the role creative interventions can play globally to illuminate the policy changes, civic and business engagement required to tackle this major health challenge.

As part of this process, we are also setting up a global steering group of leading figures to share knowledge around this event, and a learnings report around best practice and challenges in this area will be compiled and shared with partners and the wider sector later in 2025.

If you are local to Lahore, the event is free to attend (in person only)- please register for your place here . Contact lucy@invisibledust.com with any queries and make sure to join the Invisible Dust newsletter.