Nandita Kumar: Video Presentation

          The project proposed for the ASU-Leonardo Imagination Fellowship  is based on archiving and collating information on forty Phytoremediation plants and sonifies the varied pollutants absorbed by these plants specifically in water bodies. Out of the data collated, forty pollutants varying from agriculture, sewage, radioactive and heavy metal waste represent forty plants in the representative biosphere. The viewer can pick up the pollutants in a barcoded test-tube to play the sound frequency associated with the contaminants in water and to display the information on each plant/pollutant, similar to purchasing objects in a supermarket. Through an interactive sound installation and a digital/analog book, the aim is to create an interactive way for individuals to discover what could be contained in our contemporary water. It connects our lifestyle, dependency on certain products to create more awareness on the different sources of varied pollutants and how they can impact health.

          As many of the metals that can be hyper-accumulated are also essential nutrients, it is easy to see that food fortification and phytoremediation are two sides of the same coin and therefore one can create a new and potentially high-impact closed sustainable cycle. The book, which comes alongside, contains information about the pollutant regarding what the sources are and how it affects humans. It also contains information about the plant and its varied phytoremediation capabilities, medicinal, food and additional uses, that could help us incorporate these plants back into our life. It is a cost-effective plant-based approach of remediation, in which the chosen plants can specifically grow in the tropical and temperate zones, where most low-income economies are found. These plants were chosen in the hope that future ecologies can use this assimilated research to adopt these plants in their local spaces and discharge clean water before it re-enters the water system.