Embodied Breath Lessons, 2020, plastic bag, bamboo tube, breath, one-on-one lessons
Outdoor Pavilion of the Atlanta Contempory Art Center
I created this piece during the year 2020, as an offering to counter the isolation and touch deprivation so many were experiencing during Covid. Part participatory performance and part therapeutic experience, I held one-on-one sessions in which I taught individuals how to perform this piece, which involves learning a continuous breathing technique. Through the process of inflating this object through the breathing technique, one creates a ‘second body’ of one’s own breath, which one can then engage with through movement. As such, this piece becomes a literal relationship with oneself : a dance of giving and receiving from self, a practice in presence, an antidote to anxiety, and a balm for the physical touch and contact so many were missing.