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un bout de souffle / duchenne diptychs


can you photograph breath?

it appears that someone had heard of garry winogrand and found the title of the festival inspiring (atemzug, approximate translation: take a breath). i was supposed to contribute a portrait session but my plan b had just fallen through and i was out of ideas.

how does breathing look like photographed?

so these questions came as a relief (and reminded of duchenne’s experiments). i set up a portable studio and asked sitters to do as follows (while making two exposures): take a seat, breathe in, open eyes, hold still, breathe out, close eyes, hold still.

here are a few of the portraits made that way:

contact prints from 6×9 cm negatives, exposed in a kodak folding camera from the 1920s.


un bout de souffle was a contribution to the project atemzug at the zuger kunstnacht 2016 (curated by dimolinari and paettern).