One Part Per Million

A thesis project by Parsons MFA Design and Technology student Ava Burke, One Part Per Million, is a collaborative needlepointed data sculpture that seeks to raise public awareness about the health and environmental consequences of our reliance on petrochemicals by exploring the impact of one chemical in particular: vinyl chloride.

One Part Per Million asks participants to contribute small squares of needlepoint that will come together to form a 1,000,000 stitch textural tapestry representing the proportion of one part per million (the current long-term exposure limit for vinyl chloride workers). On April 11th, the Healthy Materials Lab hosted a stitching event with Ava to bring together participants for her project and to spread awareness about the human health impacts of vinyl chloride. Ava is looking for 625 participants who will each complete an individual square of 1,600 stitches. Ava’s goal with this project is to take a seemingly impossibly small number— one part per million—out of its abstract scientific context and transform it into something that can be seen and touched at a human scale.

We often think of toxicity at large scales—oil spills, landfills, billowing smokestacks—but much of our exposure to dangerous chemicals happens at imperceptibly small doses that nonetheless make a significant impact on our health, communities, and environments.

Through visualizing one such imperceptibly small quantity at a human scale, One Part Per Million asks us to critically re-examine the ethics of our materials.

Click here to learn more about Ava’s project and to find out how you can participate.