Rosalyn Driscoll
Independent artist, Massachusetts, USA
Breathing is our most intimate, necessary, ceaseless bodily action—the ground of our being. Yet it remains largely unconscious and automatic. Paying close attention, I find the breathing cycle full of rich, complex sensations and imagery. To visualize and embody the subtle motions and sensations of breathing within its bounds of necessity, I created this three-part sculpture, depicting the three phases of breathing: inhale, pause, exhale.
Steel frameworks establish the limits of breathing. Rawhide (cowskin) conveys the organic nature of the body breathing. In the first part, the double hides suggest lungs surrounded by fabric/fascia. In the second part, the centripetal sphere and black foil convey the contracted sensations in the pause between inhale and exhale. In the third part, soft, draped black leather above the splayed hide below reflect the release of exhale. The overall dimensions are 252” x 38” x 50”
My work as a visual artist explores somatic, sensory perception and experience at many levels and incarnations, including research into haptic perception of art as described in my book, The Sensing Body in the Visual Arts: Making and Experiencing Sculpture (London: Bloomsbury, 2020). https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/sensing-body-in-the-visual-arts-9781350122246/
A short video combines the sound of breathing with these three-dimensional sculptural metaphors: https://vimeo.com/1068243002
