En haleine is a mixed media installation where two close-up shots of an air gush, buried in dark sand, show the expanding and contracting of the veins. In each inhalation there is an intent to hold the breath for as long as possible. The pulsing of the heart beat is visible through the veins inasmuch as the shortness of breath is becoming more evident. Both videos are synchronised in order to alternate between the exhalation and inhalation, setting a dialogic pace between the buried images. While one holds the breath and remains in apnea, the other releases the breath until it is suspended so that the first breath can be released, and so on. This syncopated breathing swings between two points in space from an interdependent respiratory flow between the image of two bodies buried in the black sand.

The breathing is suspended in time, creating an intermediate state with a double meaning. The word haleine in French means breathing, a breath, a blow, sigh. In a figurative and literary sense, it also means the ability to carry out a creative or intellectual effort without interruption and for a long period of time. Haleine also has a temporal significance related to the idea of flow, rhythm, duration or suspension since un haleine (a breath) can be phonetically read as en haleine (in suspense).

In this work the constancy of the respiratory flow is interrupted in order to summon a momentary alert state and of permanent vigilance.

Contorno Aparente, Sala de expsoições. Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa, 2021