Among the more recent artworks to adorn the walls of a small Melbourne park is a mural drawing attention to air pollution in Mongolia.

As well as being the world’s coldest capital city, with temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius, Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia is among the most polluted cities in the world.

Melbourne-based artist Kh.Kurelbaatar, aka ‘Heesco’, moved to Australia from Mongolia in 1999 and still has friends and family in Ulaanbaatar.

Heesco said using art to draw attention to the issue was ‘better than doing nothing’.’I have so many family members there, and seeing what they go through started really affecting me. ‘It’s pretty much a humanitarian disaster.’

Working with the ‘Breathe Mongolia’ organisation, Heesco arranged for a photographer to shoot images showing the pollution on the streets of Ulaanbaatar. He used two of those photos, both showing children wearing facemasks, as the basis for his mural.