This series explores the research themes, events and activities events of the Life of Breath project. Life of Breath is an research project exploring breathing and breathlessness at the interface of arts, humanities and medical practice. It is a collaboration between the Durham University and University of Bristol, and is funded by the Wellcome Trust.
‘Art changes human experience as it reorders our perceptions and engages our emotions’ (Starr, 2013) Artist Jayne Wilton has spent the last 10 years exploring ways of capturing and visualising the breath. She is not the first artist to be … Read more…
In his manifesto ‘Projective Verse’ (1950) the poet Charles Olson proposed a new view of poetic structure based on the breath. Olson’s ideas were taken up, developed and modified by other American poets, including William Carlos Williams and Denise Levertov. … Read more…
Under the Surface is a choral piece composed by Toby Young which was specially commissioned for, and premiered at, the Feel It Festival in November 2016. Inspired by the research of the Life of Breath team, particularly the work of … Read more…
A cappella singing, a lone rower in the Pacific Ocean, fungal spores, clairvoyance and a baby’s cries…what could possibly tie these things together? The surprising answer is breath and poetry. ‘To Breathe Ourselves Into Some Other Lungs’ was an … Read more…
‘It Felt Like Drowning’ is the winner of our recent Inspired musical composition competition. Entrants were invited to attend the Feel It Festival in November 2016 and take their inspiration from one of the events. The winner, Elan Higueras, … Read more…
On 1st July 2007 England banned smoking in enclosed public places. Although contentious at the time it has gone on to become one of the most popular and successful pieces of legislation ever. To mark the tenth anniversary of … Read more…
If you were invited to write a letter to your breath, what would you say? Bristol anthropologist Alice Malpass and letter-revivalist Elspeth Penny have been running workshops doing exactly that. Chatting to Sarah McLusky they explain what happens in … Read more…
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | RSS Discover the work our researchers are doing to try and understand what it is like to live with a lung condition. Sarah McLusky chats to Durham anthropologists Rebecca Oxley and Fredrik … Read more…
Jane Macnaughton discusses why breathlessness is an invisible symptom, why the people who experience it can be invisible in society and how this is hampering the battle against lung disease.