Given that the subjects in this image appear to be female, how can we explore the gendering of toxicity?
This image encourages one to consider the visibility of toxicity. I find it fascinating that you've collapsed toxicity to the most micro of structures to challenge our conception of toxic visualizations.
These images brings to light the societal pressures women have to apply make-up, and thus, creating a "toxic face". The bottom image is indicative of the toxins that people put into their bodies everyday through what they eat. These images show how miniscule exposures to toxins contribute to "total body burden" of toxins.
These images show how industrial (chemical) pollutants are pervasive in both our occupational and everyday lives. Furthermore, a particular body, a person of color who works a low-paying or risky job, is more likely to be exposed to these toxic stresses, which in turn can aggrevate pre-existing illnesses or contribute to multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). These images convey the inequalities associated with toxic stress and sensitivity as wealthier people can afford better healthcare, treatments, and alternative chemical or non-chemical products.
This image is powerful for the onlooker because the dust and fumes from the massive truck automatically make you stop breathing in an effort to avoid inhaling what isn't actually around you - similar to the "ouch" when you see another person hit their head. This feeling is known because it is experienced by everyone at some point, such as walking along the sidewalk when a car expelling a smelly dark cloud passes by. The accompanying text proves that the dust and fumes are even worse than initially assumed; it gives the reader a sense of both sadness and despair.
This image seems to convey that mercury no longer needs to be seen as a toxic element to those subjects who engage with it. Rather than becoming the victims of potential toxicity, Bartec's technology promises a mastery, and thereby detoxification of this element.
This image on its own portrays a happy demeanor and seems to give the viewer something to smile about. Knowing the theme of toxic subjects magnifies the curiosity of what the accompanying text will say. The text does an amazing job of providing the viewer something to ponder while providing background and facts on current issues.
This collage invites us to contemplate how toxicity sits in places. The image of the woman in the freeway headdress reminds us that the managing of toxicity is a burdensome act which requires careful balancing and distribution of weight. Her arms reach out on either side and her weight is spread across her shifted stance. The collage ponders what factors shape how toxicity is balanced, that is how it is spread across places.
A map like this, which posits "risk" by predetermined structural parameters, can be very powerful for conjuring an applied approach to mitigating toxic exposure. However, as you state in your text, images are geared and constructed for specific audiences, and when looking at this map I am left to wonder who is motivated to action? Color-coded displays on maps that denote differences tend to make the viewer immediately look for their home, their risk. I am struck also by the lack of presence of the exposed here. It could serve to reify the disembodiment of the marginal in data. However, as you note, we are brought again and again to "who is the image for?"
This image captures state-sanctioned measures by South Korea to uphold their nation-building that are anti-black and highlights the extent that they are willing to go to, to maintain a racially homogenous nation. This image further complicates the idea of toxicity depending on whose view is being advanced. On the one hand, the toxic subjects according to the image are the mixed-race children because they defy racial notions in South Korea and would contribute to defying the patriarchy that South Korea seeks to sustain. On the other hand, the toxic subject is South Korea in their failure to address the changes in notions of race that have been influenced by international conflicts. Additionally, this image can also expand the concept of "toxicity" by focusing on how nations, in this case South Korea, impose toxicity on their own country as well as on an international level regardings ideas of race that are rooted in anti-blackness. While this image is sending a message to those in South Korea who are mix-raced, it is also sending a message to Black people in the U.S. and in this case their toxicity is being exported and complementing the toxicity that Black people receive from the U.S.