Drawing Breath
As a way of developing the subject matter for the light drawings I began by looking into my initial idea of connection. On the advise of Jean Marie an investigation into the breath and all that it entails has been the starting point for this research. Our breath is a mutual exchange between ourselves and our environment. It is the connection between the internal and external world...it moves beyond the self and connects us to the physical world... it is the first and last thing we will ever do...
Breath, 'a physiological universal, is uniquely both an automatic and controllable process ... it is also a subjective experience, an elaborated technique, and a fundamental part of knowledge systems and world views. Breathing is interactive and offers a mode of relating to the world, engaging with others, objects, environments and technologies... yet breath is seldom considered in anthropological or cross-cultural research, despite the implications this could have in comprehending what breath is...'
Starting with the question of "How to make the breath visible?" the following is a list of possible answers:
- Breathing onto mirror/glass
- Breathing smoke
- Cold air/breath - the winter breath
- Tracking breathing patterns
- Tracing the movement of the chest/lungs
- Breathing into a plastic/paper bag
- Breathing into fine powder/pigment
- Breathing out under water
- Jumping into water - record the sound - could this be turned into light?
- Breathing across water
- Breathing into bubbles
- The human form and the exaggerated breath
- Movement & the breath
- Breathing across fine sand/gold leaf/dirt
- The breath that centres
- Holding the breath
- The breath before the scream
- Is there a way of turning breath into light?
- What does the absence of breath look like? Deflated.
- Creating condensation
- Film someone breathing deeply
- 2 people breathing onto each other
- Breathing into fire
- Blowing out a candle
- Breathing into dust suspended in a light stream
- Movement of the lungs while breathing
- Breathing across water
‘He bound some bodies by tenor, others by physique, others by soul, and others by rational soul. In stones, and logs which have been severed from their physical connection he created tenor, which is the strongest bond. This is breath which turns back towards itself. It begins to extend itself from the centre to the extremities, and having made contact with the outer surfaces it bends back again until it returns to the same place from which it first set out. This continuous double course of tenor is indestructible.’ Philo
Internet image research based on ideas listed above
Another idea is to look at the anatomical structure of the breath. A microscopic view of lung tissue through to the macroscopic view of of the planet's atmosphere - to look at all that lies between the rhythmical wave of inhaling and exhaling...
