From Breath

2024, silverpoint on canvas (174 x 174cm), performance (7hrs over 7 days), sound, silver flute.

Listen to an excerpt of From Breath here >

From Breath is a performance installation that brings together drawing, sound and sculpture. The work unfolds through breath and movement as the artist uses a giant silver flute—handcrafted and scaled to her body—to draw across a black canvas on the floor. Simple in form—a hollow silver tube with a single embouchure hole—sound is produced through breath alone. As the artist exhales and drags the flute across the surface, fine silver lines are drawn upon the canvas. Each mark records the duration and intensity of a breath, as well as the weight and movement of the body. The flute slowly wears away with each pass, its form subtly reshaped by contact. What remains are two interwoven records of the act: a large-scale silverpoint drawing and a sound recording that captures breath in motion through the flute. From Breath traces the ephemeral forces that shape us—breath, time, movement and repetition—making them visible, audible and felt.

IMAGE CREDITS
Images 1 and 2: Document Photography
All following images: Installation and performance views of Emma Fielden 'From breath' 2024 as part of the exhibition 'Infinite: Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2024' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales © the artist, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio