To Hold Breath
From 2021 to the present,
ink on paper, 11 × 11 cm each.
Holding Breath originated amid the COVID-19 pandemic, inspired by an article suggesting that the inability to hold one’s breath for more than a minute might indicate infection. Since January 1, 2021, the artist has continued a daily drawing ritual: holding the breath for over a minute while drawing a line, and halting the pen at the moment of exhalation.
Through this disciplined act of breath control and documentation, the artist traces subtle transformations of body and mind. By bringing conscious attention to an otherwise automatic act of survival, a distinctive rhythm emerges—one shaped by both endurance and limitation. The pressure in the chest, the stagnation of blood flow, and the dimming of thought turn each line into a record of a boundary condition rather than a deliberate gesture.
The work reflects the pervasive fear, constraint, and tension that defined life under the pandemic, while reconsidering the elemental importance of breath—the smallest yet most vital unit of life. The repetition of breathing, holding, and release embodies a duality of fragility and resilience. As a shared experience of confinement, Holding Breath becomes a quiet meditation on the essence of life and the delicate threshold between control and surrender.
