Kings College fund artist in air pollution team

At a time when the public are citing air pollution as one of their major environmental worries and a new UK national daily air quality index has been introduced, (the first time, that warnings will be provided of potentially health-damaging air pollution events before they happen) we are delighted to announce that Kings College, London have agreed to fund Invisible Dust in 2011/12 for artist Effie Coe to continue her involvement in the EXHALE team.

EXHALE is examining how air pollution in east London is affecting 7 and 8 year old’s lung health.

Last year Coe devised ‘ink breath drawing’ activities for the EXHALE school sessions based on the new video by Dryden Goodwin’s ‘Breathe’ to be shown at Guy’s & St Thomas’ hospital in 2012. The workshops are taking place in 20 schools alongside medical testing sessions to highlight how air pollution is affecting their lungs. Effie Coe’s involvement in 2010/11 was supported by the Wellcome Trust. The art-science sessions proved popular with the children and their teachers giving an extra dimension to their understanding. See video from 2011.

In 2011 Effie Coe’s art and science workshops with the Kings scientists toured to the Barbican, Cambridge Science Festival, the View Tube by the London Olympic Stadium and the British Science Festival in Bradford, enabling families and young people to learn about air pollution.

EXHALE is led by Invisible Dust advisor Professor Frank Kelly, Environmental Health, Kings College, London and is a NIHR BRC funded study. Traffic pollution contributes to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and is an important factor in the increasing incidence of childhood asthma. As a densely populated city with major air quality issues and high levels of childhood asthma, London is an ideal setting to study the effects of pollution on health, particularly in relation to the Congestion Charging Scheme and Low Emission Zones.

Find out more about London’s air pollution.