21/06/2024
To promote Clean Air Day, the Knitting the Air exhibition has been on a tour of east London – including the Royal London Hospital, St Stephens’ Health Centre and Tower Hamlets Town Hall.
About Knitting the Air
Knitting the Air is a project we are working on in partnership with EcoWorld London and in collaboration with the local community. It is part of Poplar Green Futures, a community-led strategy and action plan for a greener, healthier Poplar.
Knitting the Air visualises local air quality data through the power of knitting. Over 100 knitters of all ages and abilities from across the community have come together to meet, chat and knit air pollution data from two local Breathe London air quality sensors.
Work on this ambitious project began in March 2023 – and the knitting collective will be knit the data from the whole year. The result will be an impressive, eye-catching piece, which helps to build knowledge and understanding on an issue that directly affects the health and wellbeing of the whole community.
The Knitting the Air tour of east London
On Thursday 20 June it was Clean Air Day, the UK’s largest air pollution campaign. This is run by Global Action Plan. To promote this day and to stimulate local debate and discussion around air quality, samples of our knitted data popped up at three locations across Tower Hamlets. This included:
- Tower Hamlets Town Hall
- The Royal London Hospital – alongside Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health Trust
- St Stephens’ Health Centre – as part of their annual community Clean Air Day event
Caroline Murray, for Poplar HARCA, said: “This tour was a fantastic way to showcase the hard work and dedication of our knitters and open up conversations about what the data means. To continue to hear so many people talking about the impact that air pollution has on their lives reminds us how important it is to raise awareness and build knowledge on an issue which affects the health of the whole community.”