This visualization parallels how PM 2.5 is trapped in the semi-permeability of a HEPA filter to the porosity of the lung organs, as well as the rest of bodily tissues. By extracting the lung from the body, its significance for human life is foregrounded without markers of race, class or gender, which creates a compelling contrast to other residues of colonial rule.
This image can be enriched by centering the left pair of lungs so it is cropped slightly more symmetrically to the ones on the right, as this will make it even more apparent to the viewer that both images are of the same pair of lungs. While the link to the time lapse video is very powerful, a second possibility would be to include other time points, such as after two weeks, or a month, in order to show the gradual blackening over time. Other options might be to include local readings of PM 2.5, thereby contrasting the visual with the “science” of air toxicity.
This is a found image of an installation at the Ganga Ram hospital in Delhi, created by Lung Care Foundation. Its composition is notable for showing the installation before and after Diwali fireworks, and for placing the images on a background which shows the haze of the local atmosphere during this time.
The caption can be elaborated to include more specific information about how the author is tying colonialism to a discussion of PM 2.5, as this seems to be an important part of why they chose this image. More clarity can also be offered around the positionality of NGOs such as the Lung Care Foundation, and the impact campaigns such as this may or may not have on forms of environmental justice activism, especially in terms of how it may impact particular groups rather than others.
I am also curious to hear more about the actual Diwali celebrations and the forms which fireworks take- where are they set off, how many, what is the resultant impact for PM levels compared to “typical” levels in Delhi, which are also very high?
This visualization advances ethnographic insight by bringing together questions of the materiality of post-coloniality with questions of air toxicity impacted by significant cultural events such as Diwali. It raises important considerations about ‘non-molecular’ toxics and the sentiment that they are difficult to trace, as they are always on the move. By publically illustrating the density of trapped PM 2.5 particles over a relatively short period of time, it creates a sort of monument of atmosphere which stands in contrast to the colonial war monument in the background of the image.