Mel Chin

Mel Chin's project, "revival field" is a socially conscious work in that it does great things for the environment. Chin and his team planted special plants in highly polluted areas in which the soil was contaminated with smelted metals. These plants are specially equipped to soak up the metals, and then go through a process that extracts the metal- which actually turns out to be highly purified in the process. Chin's work shows "plants transforming a system" from unsuitable for use to land that can be reclaimed. His piece shows the functionality of art in its message of the beauty of nature and growth as well as its message of environmental responsibility.