An exhalation. Embodied air, full of the waste of the human body as it churns air and environment into sustenance. Replete with meaning: the long exasperated sigh, the frail choked breath, the sound of a body relaxing. In Hebrew the word רוח can be translated as breath, wind, or spirit, as can the Hindu prana, Greek pneuma, Chinese qui, and Mayan ik. The English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus (breath). Yet we rarely think about our own breathing unless it is endangered.

Breath Vessels draws attention to the very physical nature of this life-sustaining ritual, giving it visible creative power. Breath is the interface between our own bodies and our environment. It is not only deeply tied to our own biological and emotional life, but also affects the organisms around us, as people read into our emotional state or plants take up life-sustaining carbon dioxide.