wet breath exchange
2023
Inter-durational performance [20mins / 3hrs / 5days], in collaboration with the Brdgewater Jerry.
Wintertime in the Derwent Valley, nocturnal katabatic winds roll over the hills and the cold, wet air gathers in the valley basin. A fog forms. This visiting body of aeriform water is known as the Bridgewater Jerry. Sensitive to changing weathers, these visits are rare and ever less certain.
Our own bodies remember that we were once fish. The alveolar fluid that lines our lungs seeps into the atmosphere with each breath we emit, and our bodies become spread with the wind.
The Bridgewater Jerry performs a slow-suspension, exhale-iteration, of the Derwent River’s flow. To breathe with(in) the Jerry is an act of embodied exchange – watery bodies taking turns to hold and be held within the other.
As above, as below, we will perform a wet breath exchange in continuous flow each morning.
Performances held on the Derwent Ferry
17-21 July 2023 | 6.20-9.20am
Performed by Hannah Foley, Ben Cannings
& Holly Greaves
Video by Ursula Woods
Sound design by Jethro Pickett
Images (documentation) by Cassie Sullivan
Images (promotional) by Gabrielle Eve
Design (promotional) by Jordan Cowen
Performance assist by Josh Prouse
This project was supported by Creative Hobart and Derwent Ferries.
These performances occured on, and in conversation with, timtumili minanya (River Derwent). Those involved in wet breath exchange acknowledge the muwinina people as the traditional owners of the lands and waterways of nipaluna (Hobart), and recognise the deep and reciprocal relationship of care between them. The Bridgewater Jerry is a phenonemon that has occured seasonally, for centuries or more - long before colonisation began here. We recognise the great loss of traditional knowledge surrounding this fog, as a consequence of colonial violence.
We wish to pay our respects to the palawa / pakana peoples as the ongoing custodians of lutruwita, and express our gratitude for their continued conservation of this place.