The world is changing, some for the better and some for the worst. This image is an example of one of those changes. Pollution is changing the world. It is making the world into something it is not supposed to be. Pollution is a global problem and this image displays the effects and how people are “trying” to fix it. in 2015, the hole in the ozone layer due to pollution is 25 million square kilometers. This is the largest it has ever been recorded to date. This image does not particularly have that meaning, however this is just a descriptive analysis of it. The picture shows a factory with workers “cleaning” the air so the air goes from white to black, which is being performed by two workers. This is usually the situation people see when they experience these images. The artist attempts to show the pressing issue of global warming with these four main features of color, balance, contrast, and direction.

Color is a key component in this image. Some colors in the image vary from bright to dark. The bright blue skies symbolize planet earth and its beauty. The foggy, poisonous smoke ruins this beautiful sky on this what appears to be gorgeous day. The color draws viewers in because of the intensity of it all. The workers are wearing mustard jumpsuits that show they are the help, but do not actually have the power to make a change in the world. They do not help because they receive their orders from the government. The workers appear small and almost insignificant because of the little power they have over the issue of pollution. They are just there to help “clean” up the mess the government and citizens have made for themselves. It is ironic because the citizens are cleaning up the governments mess instead of the government themselves. The oblique white smoke portrays the feelings of clean air, but it is still polluting the earth. The white smoke is still smoke and not air being released into the ozone layer. This is still an unnatural substance going in the air. Also, the factory tower is green and orange. This is quite ironic. The colors that usually represent the earth are tones of green and orange. It is surprisingly witty for that to represent the factory that is destroying the earth. This could almost be foreshadowing because this could be the only colors like that left on earth after the pollution kills everything on earth. The interesting thing is that the sky does not change color unless the smoke is over top of it. This allows viewers to think that pollution is not affecting the air that humans and animals breathe in, when people know that this is a relevant problem in today’s society. The sky constantly shows the clear blue that humans are used to seeing. 

The balance of a photo refers to the “weight” of a photo. This means that there are two “sides” in the photo that should be balanced. These two sides of the image are usually divided vertically. In this photo, there is more of a symbolic balance, which means that the objects give the photo balance by their meaning not their position. The factory is on one side and the people working to stop the pollution are on the other. There is a fight on both sides. In relation to the objects in the photo, there is somewhat of an imbalance to them. There is the smoke and people on one side and the factory on the other. However, this could symbolize how the people fighting against pollution have almost the “harder” fight and it the factory could symbolize the government and how they will not budge. The government seems like a small factor, but that is the biggest obstacle to reach the solution of this problem. There is also two people one side and just the factory on the other, but that shows the unity that people need to fight the government. It starts with one person fixing the problem, but it takes more than one to make an impact. Another theory could be that the workers are just trying to cover up for the government. They could be working for them and not trying to make a difference, just a distraction from the mess. The smoke takes up most of the picture, however it is not “weighted” as much as the factory. This is in relation to the physical weight of the object. The factory weighs more, but the smoke takes up most of the image. The smoke does have more of an affect and contribution to the overall theme of the image. Another balance element could be the workers hanging off the side. There are also two workers so that they appear balanced and united. There is two against one. The two being the workers and the one being the factory or government. All things are even or appear to be in the image. This contributes to the theme of unity of the people rising against one enemy. To sum that up, there is balance and imbalance in this image between two opposing parties. The weight of these two parties appear to be even in this image.

The contrast in this image is obvious if that person uses the smoke as their focal point. The smoke shows a major contrast when it goes from black to white. It transitions from black to white because the workers appear to be cleaning the smoke from the factory. In reality though, it is just having the smoke go from life threatening to semi-dangerous. It is the “lesser of two evils.” It is still not a solution; it just makes it seem like the government is helping. This is showing the contrast of the smoke compared to the “clean” smoke and that being compared to the air in the sky. Another contrast is the deep sky blue compared to the black smoke and the white smoke. This contrast reiterates that message of “the lesser of two evils.” Also, it shows the drastic impact of the factories smoke on the air that people and animals breathe in. On the other hand, the tower of the factory blends in quite well with the sky and it allows readers to quickly glance over it like the smoke just appeared out of thin air. Ironic that the factory is projecting pollution in the sky, and it just appear like a puff of smoke. They make it seem like it is not their problem and that it will just go away over time. The tones of the tower are neutral and that is why they blend in so well and appear unnoticed. They have very earthy tones so people do not see anything out of the ordinary because they see these colors every day. The worker’s jumpsuits are also neutral colors that blend into the image. So, they appear small and weak like they can do nothing to stop pollution. They are seen enough to know that someone is appearing to do something about the problem, but not seen enough for people to care because they just “blend” into the other chaos of the cities. 

The final feature is direction. The main direction of is the object of the smoke. The smoke is slowing off in to the outer parts of the image and appears to be going off the page as if it were continuing. The smoke almost appears to be just out of our hands or out of our reach. The direction directs the problem away from the viewer, but is people’s responsibility to help the environment. It just makes it appear like the problem will just go away on its own. However, knowledgeable citizens on the subject know that this is a problem that will simply just fade away on its own. The workers also show the direction that they are cleaning the smoke. They are cleaning the smoke towards the right, they are not getting all the smoke, just enough to appear like they are helping. The motion to the right the workers are using could be showing that the government is moving in the “right” direction on making pollution less of a problem. However, these attempts are failing because viewers see the smoke the workers are missing. The direction of the factory tower appears to be going up because of the stripes on the tower. It makes it appear like it is moving up like the factories are going to “grow” and become bigger. It is like the factories are trying to grow in a snide way. The factories seem to be going behind the people trying to help the environments backs. That is quite an upscale interpretation of the small tower in the corner of the photo. Some suggestions to help the earth from this problem could be citizens fighting for new laws on pollution coming from the factories from activist’s groups.

In conclusion to this artist’s image, he uses four main elements to reiterate the intensity of pollution which is causing global warming these four features in the image include color, balance, contrast, and direction. These portray this horrifying message of global warming. These all contribute to the overall theme that people should be helping the environment because the government is only half listening to what the people have to say and how the government is corrupt. This topic should be important to everyone. It is just how passionate the person is about their environment. These features allow viewers to come up with these ideas themselves and have their own interpretation. The artist wanted viewers to analyze this image in this way. If this amount of smoke keeps going into the ozone layer the numbers are most likely going to increase as times goes on. The problem is going to get bigger and bigger unless people take a stand against the government on the issue of pollution. There are many groups that are trying to help. This picture just reiterates the severity of the situation at hand in the world. 
