My Breath

About

This project looks at breath as the defining action between living and dying. The first breath a person takes is seen as the most important one they will take in their lives. It is the one that marks their first urgent moment of independence and capacity for agency; the first gasp for the air that they will forever rely on to stay alive, beginning a habit that will last a lifetime. I believe that photography is used to capture moments of people’s lives, moments that would otherwise be lost in our memories forever, only to be manipulated and distorted by our own thoughts and other memories built on top, each overlapping and contorting the last. However, to document breath within photography is to capture something that is invisible in a wholly visual way is practically impossible. It takes a moment that is alive and allows us to hold on to that memory forever, but it distorts the way in which we remember it. There is a distance of time between the moment the image was taken and the moment in which one looks at it today. It is as though one is looking at an object from far away, yet seeing the air between them and it. For these images I learnt how to blow my own glass, making physical recreations of my breath that now have memories of their own. - Imogen Davis

Imogen studied Photography at London College of Communication.

You can see more of her work at: www.imogendavisphotography.co.uk and on Instagram at @imogendavisphotography

You can see this exhibition here online, on Facebook, or in person on the corner of Vestry Road and Peckham Road, Camberwell, London SE5

This exhibition is part of The Camberwell Arts Festival 2018