This image immediately brings to mind news stories I read in the months leading up to 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Many athletes chose to not particpate because of the poor air quality, for fear that it would case irreparable harm to their health. This image provides a shockingly relevant visual representation of these concerns.
Having also chosen such a structure that juxtaposes two images of the same space at different times, I think it provides a clear way of articulating change over time that many visuals cannot. Even charts and data sets lose the human element in their attempts to show temporal scales.
I think it's interesting that this image provides different understandings and scales of toxicity. In the image of the "clear day" in Beijing, there is still a layer of smog floating above the city. How does this complicate transnational, transcultural, and/or global standards of toxicity?
At first, I was not totally sure that the image was a "before and after." I read it as a window covering for a second, but I think that the title makes it clear and the image is actually equally effective either way. The point from which the man stands seems really important, as if to highlight our individual perspective and to spotlight individual vantage points and the various lenses that we see things through, including biases and ignorances around contamination and toxicity. The void that the polluted air segment creates in the image is almost soothing in its nothingness.
