‘Breathe’, an experiment in rhizomatic portraiture

The video clip below is from a recent video installation titled ‘Breathe’. The work is an experiment in ‘rhizomatic portraiture’. The artist wears a mask made of copper sheet, painted black. The image barely moves, but for the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Each breath changes the mask - the black begins to fade, to reveal a face painted beneath. The artist is literally breathing life into the painted portrait, connecting the artwork and the artist. The mask ‘becomes’ the artist. The artist ‘becomes’ the mask.