The Visible Breath.

 If the breath was visible, what would it look like?

Our breath is light and playful, dancing from our bodies into the world around us. We catch a glimpse of it as a fragile wisp or a nameless shape left behind on the windows. Most of the time we need something to help us see it. And ART can do it.

Some of the first known visual art was created using Breath. Cueva de las Manos in Sata Curz, Argentina, is covered with hundreds of images of Hands, created over 9000 years ago by occupants of the cave who blew paint against the outline of their own outstretched fingers. (1)

Courtesy of google

Breath has continued to inspire and create art ever since, giving this bodily function colour, scale, and emotional weight.

Similar to this is what we experimented with in the Wymering manor. The notion of drawing the senses or recording what you hear or feel or smell was very new to me, and was fun to be experimented with.

Breath drawing with both our hands with eyes closed.

We had to draw our breath with eyes closed and with both hands, while with one had we drew our inhales and the other for exhales. These drawings made me realize that the closure of one of your senses can completely alter the way you think or function. My total scale and proportions were miscalculated in this drawing as I assumed that I was drawing a really large line and was worried I might draw it out of the paper, but in reality, my lines were very small and so much of the paper was still untouched.

Recording our heartbeat with eyes closed.

 

Ever thought if your heartbeat was ever in rhythm with your breathing? I never did, but this drawing made me feel like it was. This drawing was again done with eyes closed and it definitely enhanced the sound of our heartbeat. The drawing was then done with the rhythmic sounds of the heartbeat. One drawing had to be done with lines and the other with words. The line drawing was also influenced by the sound of my colleagues' heartbeats as we were sitting close together.

Overall, it was a very fun and a different experience, gave me insights to look at things from a different perspective for sure!