Can you Breath?

The theme of the project "Can you breathe?' is Protest.

 

"Can you breathe?" kept asking the nurse. "Can you breathe?" to my numb legs and arms.

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"Can you breathe?" to my caged body. "Can you breathe?" to my flesh and bones, once a shelter and now a motionless wreck.

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In July 2019, I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that quickly brings you to complete paralysis. I experienced my body as a distant echo from another reality, as a lifeless tree stuck in the ground, as a tomb. And my soul disconnected from it. Eventually, my body healed, but I felt a deep separation from my body. This deep separation between my body and my soul is my protest.

 

Through this project, I attempt to re-establish that connection. I depict the healing process by using canvas as an extension of my skin and by working with medical reports on the canvas, in a sequence of three steps of the healing process: from chaos, to understanding, and, finally, to hope.