hyperVENT, 2021

hyperVENT is a video composition that explores the connection between breath and forest health. Hyperventilation is the act of expelling breath faster than taking it in. It is a bodily function most associated with panic. Given that there are mindfulness practices surrounding breath to cultivate peace, this can be a paradoxical dichotomy when reflecting on our relationship with the natural world. The historic wildfire season in Colorado in the summer of 2020 was excruciating in terms of air quality. The discomfort of being outside coupled with an ongoing pandemic that made the indoors dangerous, it felt like there was nowhere safe.

The sound in this piece begins with breathing and weaves in audio that is sonified data of national tree cover loss over the last twenty years. The breath recording is the artist's breathing simulating normal, measured breath and also panicked breathing that mimics a panic attack. The filter that encapsulates this entire video is an audio visualization of breath in both measured and panic states, but the visualization is intentional in simulating a closing in of vision while gasping for oxygen. As the composition draws to a close, the breath calms into relaxed exhales, and the blurry frame begins to open up, signaling an imagined future of health and prosperity.

This video is part of a collection of artworks produced for my Master’s Thesis, and was presented at Leon Gallery in Denver. It has also been featured in the 2021 Supernova Digital Animation Festival, exhibited at BRDG Project’s True West show in January 2022, and featured in Denver Digerati’s monthly curation of the digital art screens in Downtown Denver.