Polish Artists Create Graffiti That Cleans the City Air Like an Actual Forest, and We Can Expect More of Them Around the World Soon

In an effort to raise awareness about air pollution, Converse (the shoe company) developed the Converse City Forests project. They gathered Polish artists Dawid Ryski and Maciek Polak to create art for a mural in Warsaw. But not just any mural. This one has a unique feature: a special paint that helps to cut down on air pollution.

We at Bright Side learned more about the concept and the creation of this eco-friendly art.

This mural is as powerful as a forest.

When Polish graphic artist Maciek Polak was invited to participate in the Converse City Forests project, he promptly agreed, saying, “It is not every day that there’s an opportunity to create a painting in the center of Warsaw that cleans the air.”

This mural, located near the Politechnika Metro Station, was brought to life by Good Looking Studio. The cleaning power, according to Converse, is the same as that of 780 trees.

A special paint works like tree leaves, and absorbs pollution.

The mural was painted using photocatalytic paints. When exposed to light and oxygen, these paints trigger a process which absorbs atmospheric pollutants and turns them into substances that are harmless to our health, and also harmless to the environment.

Cities and nature join forces for the benefit of the environment.

Ryski’s style is based on geometric forms and urban elements, while Polak focuses on drawing fauna and flora and uses more organic shapes with sharp contours. Polak states, “These contrasting styles combined with a theme gave us the opportunity to create our vision of the symbiosis between the city and nature.”

He also mentions that the “City Forests” concept was crucial for both he and Ryski to get the necessary inspiration and combine their styles to develop the art.

Good Looking Studio, responsible for painting the mural itself, expected people to feel “amazement and delight” when seeing the work. Polak thinks the mural “exudes positive energy and hope for a better tomorrow.”

This idea is in line with the Converse City Forest’s slogan: “Create Together For Tomorrow.” For Polak, art is a way to “draw people’s attention to the world’s problems, and this mural also tries to solve them.”

More similar projects are on the way.

Polak believes that “this project opened up new possibilities” for creating environment-related art, and is ready to accept new challenges in this area. Good Looking Studio is already “planning their next projects with the photocatalytic paint.”

The Converse City Forests project has already developed murals in other major cities too, like Bangkok, Sydney, and São Paulo. They plan to take their message to other places around the globe so that more people realize that we need to save the planet, and can see how we can start doing it through art.

Do you know about any other cool eco-friendly art projects? Please tell us about them in the comments, and let’s spread the word together!