Breathing Backwards (Breath Score)
2020
Performance for 8 breathing bodies, 15 minutes
Accompanying libretto, A5 concertina
Breathing Backwards (Breath Score) is an investigation into the reciprocal relationship between body and space; a gentle meditation on the ways in which breath may deepen our understanding of the external world.
The performance is an activation of, and conversation with space; movement of breath drawing on, in and with air. Formal and rhythmic qualities of breath reveal internal spaces – both physical and emotional – and reflect external, environmental influences.
The score emerged from a compositional process that was primarily visual, gestural and embodied. Research into wind patterns and observations of birdcalls inspired a series of drawings, which were then translated into rhythm. A bodily archive of breath techniques served as a palette with which to draw a sensorial image. Techniques vary in formal and affective qualities, altering the performer’s experience of their surroundings.
The positioning of breathing-bodies within space was an essential consideration - each body a point from which force erupts; each breath an emerging line, mark-making with/in air. The three-dimensionality of the piece is pronounced by its application to multi-level site; drawing (with) breath, becomes sculpting (with) breath. This invisible movement of breath-air is sensorially representational of environmental happenings.
With an understanding of breath as a constant process of (internal, lung-located) negotiation of the body-self-beyond boundary, this work seeks to challenge our humanistic perspective by revealing intangible intra-connections with environment.
Original performance held on 2 November, 2020
UTAS School of Creative Arts, Hobart.
Also performed and exhibited at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), Hatched: National Graduate Show 2021. Performed by Hengequeens.
Video content and images by Gabrielle Eve
Videography assistance by Jordon Cowen