COPD, culture, climate and the sensation of breathlessness in Uruguay
Dr Megan Wainwright is an international collaborator on the Life of Breath project. She is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at…
It Felt Like Drowning
The header image shows ‘In the same breath’, a 2008 artwork by artist and glass-blower Kate Williams (borosilicate glass /…
The invisibility of breathlessness: physiology, perceptions and politics
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.
Under the Surface
Composer and academic Toby Young writes: ‘Our business in living is to become fluent with the life we are living and art…
A phenomenology of illness, part 2
Following on from part 1, Life of Breath PI Havi Carel writes: What is breathlessness? This is a seemingly simple…
A year of inspiration
Throughout 2016 our collaborator Jayne Wilton created unique and beautiful breath-inspired artworks to grace the cover of The Lancet Respiratory…
A Painful Silence: bringing domestic violence into conversation
The header image shows a representation of the three wise monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no…
Breathe Easy Durham Dales at Breathing Space
The header photograph was taken by Paul Waine, and shows Bev Wears of the British Lung Foundation and Rebecca Oxley,…
Restoring Breath: Questions, medical advancements and the importance of bystander participation
Tina Williams, PhD student on the Life of Breath project, writes a post prompted by the inaugural lecture of Prof….
Our Battle for Breath: making lung health a priority
This is the fourth and final blog post in a series of responses to the British Lung Foundation‘s Battle for Breath report….
Why is breathlessness invisible?
This is the first of a series of responses to the British Lung Foundation‘s Battle for Breath report. Join us on…
A phenomenology of illness
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel writes: The experience of illness is a universal and substantial part of human existence….
‘Don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air!’
David Scoins (lifelong runner, sometime sports teacher) spent seven years in China; a year or more in each of Xi’an, Nanjing,…
Breath in the technoscientific imaginary
Here, Durham researcher Arthur Rose explores breath as a theme, metaphor and plot device in Science Fiction. Whether used to convey a sense of…
Reflections on vaping 1: An introduction to the world of cloud-chasing
This post is the first of a series on vaping and vape tricks by Rebecca Oxley, post-doctoral researcher in anthropology on the Life of…
Nothing but blue skies
This post is written jointly by Jess Farr-Cox (Life of Breath Project Manager (Bristol) and recently back from a trip…
Breathing and Breathlessness in Clinic & Culture
Our PIs, Jane Macnaughton and Havi Carel have contributed a chapter on breathing and breathlessness to a new book, ‘The Edinburgh Companion…
‘Out of his nostrils goeth smoke’: whales, whaling and breathing fire
In the second of a series of posts on cetaceans (see also ‘The cetaceans may give rise to some perplexity‘),…
The First and Last Breath: reflections from palliative & neonatal care
Kate Binnie, yoga teacher and music therapist, writes: In his brilliant book Being Mortal (2015) Atul Gawande calls for all…
Letter to my lungs
Elspeth Penny is an arts, health and communication specialist. She has a letter writing project and a creative consultancy and writes,…
‘The cetaceans may give rise to some complexity’: breathlessness in whales and dolphins
In the first of a series of posts on cetaceans (see also ‘Out of his nostrils goeth smoke‘, Project Manager…
Every Last Breath (2)
In an essay that first appeared in Atrium: The Report of the Northwestern Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program (Spring 2011, p….
Every Last Breath (1)
In an essay that first appeared in Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction (Spring 2011, pp. 117-118), professor of English Joanne Jacobson writes:…
Arthur’s ‘labouring of the lungs’ in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King
Elsa Hammond is a PhD candidate at the University of Bristol, working on breath and death in the poetry of…