Work: Pneuma
Date: 2018

For centuries, the enterprise of civilization sought to detach humankind from the wider system that is nature. The images of burning trees due to deforestation figures as one symbol of such a detachment, for it is not only the destruction of complex biospheres, but also of the foundation of life.

The world’s forests are a lifeline of all living things. They are themselves immersed in an intricate circle of inhalation and exhalation. Just as our lungs absorb carbon dioxide from the blood and infuse it with oxygen, green plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and release oxygen into the atmosphere.

Pneuma is a meditation on the fundamental need for breathing. If humans were not breathing, they wouldn’t exist. If the planets lungs were not breathing, no living being would. Ideally displayed as an immersive video installation, the work invites the viewer to take part in a meditation on the forest and asks to contemplate on the interconnectedness of all life.

Click the image to access the video.
© CHRIS HARKER