Featured image: from the series ‘Drawing Breath’ by Jayne Wilton
Life of Breath at Durham University was formally launched in the splendid gothic surroundings of the Joachim Room at the College of St Hild & St Bede. The video above, made by Susi Arnott (Walking Pictures), captures some of the key moments and messages from the day. Following introductions from the project team we first heard from Miriam Johnson, from Hull York Medical School, an expert on palliative care. Then artist Jayne Wilton outlined her work on visualising the breath. Durham colleague Charlotte Roberts considered what human skeletal remains can tell us about breathlessness in the past, while Peter Garratt explored the breath in literature. Finally James Edwards and Gaynor Williams, members of the Darlington Breathe Easy patient support group shared what it is like to feel breathless.
These speakers were framed by moments of reflection (breathing spaces, if you will), encounters with the breath made visible through spoken word, sound and music. Read more about the event’s theme of invisibility in a blog post by Sarah McLusky and reflections on the day by Rebecca Oxley. You can also download a copy of the programme or follow the event as it unfolded on Twitter #MTIVDurham
