Breathe

Interactive Art, E-textile, Lilypad Arduino, and Acrylic on Canvas, 2022.

Solo Project; 2022

Artist Statement

This piece shows the vulnerability and beauty of life in the context of a global pandemic. I wanted to replicate my personal experiences in the ER. It was at that very moment, lying on the hospital bed, with an oximeter clipped to my finger, I started to see and realized the beauty, strength, and power of being alive.

The holes on the canvas are symbols of broken health conditions, and the red alligator clips that are exposed in front of the viewer’s eyes represent blood vessels. Life is vulnerable and sometimes the flame of it fades quickly. Yet, it is also powerful in a way that with a single spark, it would light up again, transferring into changing numbers in the ER’s screens. Those numbers are scary, but they are indicators of my life, proof of me still being alive.

When the audience taps on the oximeter sensor, the whole piece would start to breathe with the audience. The lights would start to blink. The piece is an extension, a display of a person’s private personal experience. It is making the invisible visible, connecting this complicated personal experience to other people’s experiences, and speaking about a position in the context of a global pandemic.