In this body of work, I capture human breath in a sealed glass vessel. I produced a memorial for a stranger named John Crews

who jumped from his balcony after a fire broke out in his apartment. I was commissioned by the Progressive Corporation to create an artwork in memory of him for the Los Angeles office where he worked. His breath came from an inflated toy, a deer head with antlers, something John Crews had purchased in jest to decorate his office. His colleague was packing John’s office and was about to deflate the toy when he remembered that it was John’s breath inside and instead chose to preserve it.

A glass vessel is first filled with water. Then, the breath is released into the vessel through a fitting that displaces the water and holds the breath. The vessel is then sealed airtight with silicone. There is a reference to Duchamp’s 50 cc of Paris Air in this work, but breath is more precious than air. Air is a source of life, but the expelled carbon dioxide is the source of voice.

The airtight seal of the vessel produces condensation. Depending on the temperature, the inside of the glass will fog over, like warm breath on a glass pane. Like a recording, the vessel reminds you of someone’s presence by their absence.