Take a Breath

Take a Breath is a major exhibition that provides an historical, social, political, and personal examination of breathing – why we breathe, how we breathe and what we breathe – exploring themes of decolonisation, environmental racism, indigenous language, the Impact of war on the environment and breath as meditation.

Taking as its starting point the nature of breath and its vital role in our very existence, the exhibition reflects on the social, political, environmental, and spiritual aspect of breathing, tracking this vital act from the impact of post-industrial air pollution to modern-day wars and the effect on environment, health and how we live; to the suppression of protests of voices from different communities, where breath is a symbol of community and resistance; and the use of breath as personal meditation.

Featuring the work of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Alex Cecchetti, Ammar Bouras, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Hajra Waheed, JMW Turner, Marina Abramović, Ana Mendieta and Isabel Nolan, among many others (scroll down the page to see full lists of artists). The exhibition also explores breath through movement and sound with performances by Okwui Okpokwasili in collaboration with Peter Born, Alex Cecchetti, Maria Hassabi, Isabel Nolan with Belinda Quirke, and Camille Norment Trio with Crash Ensemble.

The exhibition’s film programme includes Bruce Conner’s CROSSROADS (1976), one of most provocative films of the Atomic era which features 37 minutes of extreme slow-motion replays of the 1946 Operation Crossroads Baker underwater nuclear test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, and Clare Langan’s The Heart of a Tree (2020), which highlights the importance of trees to the survival of the planet and explores the disconnection between man and nature.