Air We Share

Air We Share is an invitation to creatively explore air quality and work with an artist in a group to collaborate on a piece of visual art which will represent air quality data (a data visualisation). The artwork will be exhibited alongside six others in seven locations across the West Midlands between January and March 2025.

Air We Share has been developed by the West Midlands Combined Authority. They are working with an artist and inviting local people in seven different places across the region to take part in a air quality data visualisation workshops. We are collaborating with with the West Midlands Combined Authority to bring Air We Share into our work on Dudley People’s School for Climate Justice. We are keen to explore ways in which this might lead to a longer term, community-led enquiry and action around air quality in the borough. (Dudley Council are in the process of updating their Air Quality Action Plan.)

The Air We Share creative workshop in Dudley will be led by artist, maker and designer Claire Witcomb. Claire trained as a sculptor and now works in schools, galleries, museums and with communities. There are spaces for 10 local people to take part, with an invitation to join an online co-design session in advance of the workshop.

The workshop will be focused on air quality and our local communities. The artwork created in the workshop will to raise awareness at pop up exhibitions around the West Midlands, including in Dudley. The aspiration is to invite curiosity through the artworks and encourage dialogue about the shared challenges we face as a region around poor air quality.

Air We Share in Dudley is a collaboration between Dudley People’s School for Climate Justice, artist Claire Witcomb and the West Midlands Combined Authority. The images on this page are from work on air quality on Dudley High Street developed by students involved in an Extinction Rebellion Architecture Studio at Birmingham City University in collaboration with CoLab Dudley in 2022.