The Breathing Wall
A nine-floor mural in Tashkent breathes clean air, turning invisible pollution into a public conversation.
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AI Translation Summary
TBC Bank Uzbekistan's ESG Program painted a nine-floor mural in Tashkent's Sergeli district using Airlite air-purifying paint, cleaning air as effectively as a 250-square-meter forest. The work turned an unspoken environmental crisis into a visible, shareable public issue, backed by a QR code, workshops, and blogger kits.
Cultural Context
Tashkent has repeatedly ranked among the world's most air-polluted cities, but political sensitivity has kept the topic largely off-limits in public discourse — making this mural's visibility itself a quiet act of advocacy.
Entry Information
Summary
Local Context and Problem TBC Bank Uzbekistan is committed to driving positive environmental change through initiatives of the brand’s ESG Program. In Tashkent, one of the biggest environmental challenges is air quality. The city has repeatedly ranked as the most air-polluted in the world according to the global Air Quality Index. Invisible like the air, even when polluted, the problem is not discussed by citizens living in it. As a result, air pollution remains ignored, while media and activists cannot speak openly about ecological situation because of political risks. TBC Bank’s ESG Strategy https://www.tbcbankgroup.com/esg/our-esg-strategy/ Air Quality Index https://www.iqair.com/ https://uznews.uz/ru/news/79332
Strategy
Idea Step 1 To make the invisible problem visible and spark public dialogue, we created a nine-floor mural that purifies the air like a 250-square-meter forest. We located the “breathing” artwork by a local artist in the Sergeli district — a rapidly growing, densely populated industrial area of Tashkent. Step 2 The mural became a daily visual reminder of air pollution, featuring a QR code directing people to local eco-initiatives. At the launch, we hosted an eco-art workshop with activists and media, who covered the event sparking public dialogue. Bloggers received interactive kits with the same air-purifying paint, starting wide online discussion about the problem.
Execution
Technology The mural is created with an innovative paint that uses Airlite technology. Harmful particles contact the mural’s surface and under sunlight the paint breaks down polluted air into oxygen and harmless compounds. Rain cleans the surface and the process starts again. Each square meter painted with Airlite purifies the air as effectively as a square meter of forest. Airlite Technology: https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/255161-nontoxic-ecopaint-is-a-smart-way-to-improve-air-quality https://airlite.com/en/info/certificazioni
Results
The air-purifying mural generated 89 media publications, 1,700,000 views, and reached an audience of 36,000,000. Now visible, the issue of air quality gained broad public attention in both news and social media.