Water sustainability can be carried out in multiple ways. John Sabraw is an artist that works with environmentalists and scientists to do research on streams polluted from abandoned coal mines in Ohio. He also works on making a fully sustainable art practice that produces eco-conscious art. His recent art pieces, called “Toxic Art”, were made from pigments created from the acid polluted mine runoff. These vibrant art pieces are not only beautiful to look at, but also brings awareness to the pollution of our world’s waters due to humans and industrialization.
John Sabraw's "Toxic Art" addresses important ideas about sustainability. #bcsfh20https://t.co/nuJpI3hhGl https://t.co/tPwZ6Y0uyL
— Naveera Arif (@NaveeraArif) October 30, 2017
The creation of the artworks presents the core of sustainability, to make decisions that satisfy social, economic and environmental aspects of society. Making pigments out of the toxic runoff helps Sabraw create artwork to sell and to be appreciated by the public socially, as well as aid in eradicating the runoff from the area in a beneficial way while raising awareness of the negative effects humans have had on the environment. It can be used to understand the necessity of water sustainability specifically, since runoff can ultimately have effects on drinking water and the pollution of the oceans, which is where the water will eventually end up, hurting two out of the three pillars of sustainability. His artworks advocate for sustainability in what it gives as a message through interpretation of the artwork itself, and the way in which the artist himself produced the works.
