Kathmandu valley is ranked one of the worst polluted cities in the world and there is a complete disregard by authorities and public alike. I felt the need of art to confront the harsh realities of our times. On February 5th 2017, I stood in the midst of polluted through-fares in the city wearing a gas mask and posted striking images on social media. Cloth masks commonly used by the public are useless against the level of air pollution. Unmanaged road expansions, dust particles, brick factories, rampant plastic burnings, exhausts from outdated and unchecked vehicles running freely worsen the pollution. Not doing anything to ban these vehicles is evident that political figures are receiving fat money from transport syndicates masked as political donations.

Sometimes, I talk to traffic police, bus drivers, conductors, and street vendors about their health because they work in an outdoor environment highly prone to air pollution. All of them say, their health condition has worsened due to the air pollution. It has caused acute and chronic diseases to the health of the general public but the government hasn’t still hasn’t done anything to improve the air quality or even recognized it as a public health emergency.