An ecological mural reduces air pollution in Bielsko-Biała

Just like a little forest

The southern Polish city of Bielsko-Biała now boasts an art piece that pleases the eye and is good for the environment. The municipality informs that an ecological mural capable of reducing air pollution for at least a decade, just like a real forest, has been painted on its territory.

An artistic approach to resolving urban challenges

A large mural, depicting a fragment of a forest on 9 Adam Mickiewicz street now brings the dark and grey landscape of this part of Bielsko-Biała back to life. But the artistic creation unveiled on 12 October, as part of the Tree Day program (a traditional tree and shrub planting event), does much more than that.

The painting covering over 100 square metres of the wall is expected to be able to purify the air in the same way as a small forest would, according to the municipal website. Painted by Polish artist Ewa Ciepielewska from the Luxus Group, it uses the paints of the Italian company Airlite.

The author, quoted by the municipality, explained how the process works: “Paints work on a principle comparable to the photosynthesis process in plants, where chlorophyll catalyses the energy production reaction. Similarly, Airlite uses the property of titanium dioxide to produce reactive molecules that neutralize air pollutants into inert compounds. A forest painted on over 100 m2 of wall will reduce air pollution in the same way as a planted forest with the same area would do”.

The Mayor of Bielsko-Biała Jarosław Klimaszewski who also attended the event was impressed with the artistic, ecological and educational aspects of the painting and of the awareness of the need to protect the planet among young people.

The author of the mural herself has been dealing with ecology for years. Ewa Ciepielewska has associated her artistic practice with the Vistula River and a wooden lighter (a traditional flat-bottomed boat), where she invites other artists to enter in direct contact with nature. She is a member of the artistic Luxus Group from Wroclaw, the origins of which date prior to the fall of communism.

In order to mark the symbolic new life of the building, the participants also planted a tree and spoke about education in the field of environmental and climate protection. The 18th edition of the Tree Day in Bielsko-Biała, therefore, turned into a real artistic event.