Tuzla is one of the cities that faces extremely high levels of air pollution, and the building at Rudarska Street 55 is the first to have a mural painted with photocatalytic paints based on titanium oxide, which have the property of absorbing pollutants from the air.
Walls painted in this way, through complex chemical processes, neutralize pollutants from the air, which is why these walls are called smog consumers, the City Administration of Tuzla stated, presenting a mural painting project on a residential building in the Irac neighborhood.
Namely, the mural is painted with special photocatalytic paints that, thanks to the titanium oxide (TiO2) in its composition, have the ability to purify the air by binding polluting particles such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted by cars and industrial plants.
In addition to functionality, the mural also has significant artistic value, and it is signed by David Strauss, a world-renowned Canadian-Czech muralist who has participated in a number of campaigns and painted some of the world’s most famous murals.
“I want to thank the residents of the Irac settlement for their cooperation in the past few days and I want to apologize for making a mess, taking up your parking spaces and the like. The figure of the young woman painted on the mural is an unknown person and she represents all of us, she is your new neighbor. The idea that we have been guiding ourselves since we came to Tuzla is that we borrow the future from the younger generations,” Strauss pointed out.
He added that his job is to create inspiration for new generations and if we leave them with positive thinking, then they too will pass that optimism on to the next generations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The mural was painted as part of the project “Let’s catch smog and polluting particles – art in the function of improving air quality and raising public awareness”, which is implemented by the Forestry and Environment Initiative FEA, with the financial support of the FBiH Environmental Protection Fund.
The city administration of Tuzla provided support during the application to the Federal Fund for Environmental Protection and in the selection of the most suitable building on which the mural will be painted with photocatalytic paints that “purify” the air.
“We decided on Tuzla because one such mural was done in Sarajevo, and Tuzla, like Sarajevo, really has problems with air pollution, so we added a message to the mural, in addition to that universal artistic value, that a clean building is not a privilege, but a right,” he said. is project assistant Samir Husić.
The building was selected through a public call to which anyone who wanted their residential buildings, schools or business premises to be permanently decorated with an artistic mural by the world-renowned artist in this area, the Czech-Canadian muralist David Strauss, could apply.
The project aims to transfer innovative and good European practices and tools in terms of implementing a new concept of reducing air pollution and improving air quality in the area of the city of Tuzla, as well as improving the environment and public awareness on these issues, Klix.ba reports.
