Have you ever wondered why our shirts get stained when we return home, though we work indoor? Well, all the thank goes to vehicular emissions, throwing carbon monoxide at us.

However, carbon monoxide, which is emitted from the tail pipes of vehicles, is set to get a different avatar, as artists are making good use of this pollutant, by capturing the air pollution and converting it to art.

Conceptualised by Bangalore-based Graviky Labs, this Indian Start-up, has invented a novel way to fight the ever increasing pollution by capturing “Soot” the black solid material, which is produced when petrol/gas burns in car engines.

Graviky labs in a partnership with Tiger Beer, has commissioned street artists to create murals using Air Ink in Hon Kong’s, Sheung Wan district, which has a similar pollution problem like Delhi.

The initiative is called ‘The Art-of-Pollution’. The 30ML Air-Ink Pen can hold up to 30-50 minutes of air pollution generated by cars that would otherwise have been floating in the atmosphere causing various deceases like cancer.

Founded by MIT Media Lab researcher, Anirudh Sharma, Nikhil Kaushik and Nitesh Kadyan, the lab has been fusing technology and design to aid tackle environmental hazards.

Anirudh, created a device called Kaalink that can be fitted to car’s exhaust pipe to capture pollutants before they hit the air. While at MIIT Media, he came up with the idea of capturing pollution and repurposing it to use as ink.

Speaking about the initiative, Anirudh said, “There is no better medium to connect to people than art. Here our inks are used as an antidote to the respiratory problems caused by air pollution.”