‘One Moment – One Breath’ is part of the project ‘This moment will never come back’. As reaction to the hectic and distracted every day this body of work focusses on the here and now. Synchronising my breath and gestures to create circles as representation of the present moment, I activate my body to experience the moment as it is. Aiming to celebrate full presence I use the circle to visualise this very moment in clay.
With 420g of clay slurry which correlates to the volume of my single breath, I paint with both hands, half a circle as I inhale and finishes the circle as I exhale. The clay circle becomes a representation of her state of mind in that present moment. The clay painting is made intuitively in a few minutes, using her energy at this particular moment. Even though unfired, the clay on canvas fixes the moment over time. It records a moment when everything feels in balance. Over the period of one week, I painted again and again circles in one breath on canvas. The layers of the different canvases remain on the wall, reminding us of the moments that have past.
The audience is invited to observe her calm action, experiencing a present moment themselves. Artist and audience are involved with their own inner journey. Even if experienced individually, both become aware of the moment in one way or another.
This body of work uses the breath to address presence, the body and time.
By choosing performance with artefacts as by-products of the process, I acknowledge the different dimensions of experiences that come from the artist, the audience, the process and the object.
‘This moment will never come back’ is informed by my previous body-clay experiments developed during the studio research project. My work in performance, embodied experiences and ceramic objects investigates how clay can help us be present in our body.
Download the sketchbook.
ANKE BUCHMANN 