Breathe, Inhale…exhale…opposites. Try doing just one…
This project has been an aesthetic response to words penned by Professor John Paul Lederach. Breathe was the keynote presentation at the 4 Corners Festival 2020 during lockdown, when our Breath seemed more constricted and a much less shared experience. John Paul allowed his words to be explored, embodied and translated for the Belfast context that they were partly written. This experience had not happened before.
The project was lead by Community Arts Partnership and was hosted by Forthspring Inter-community Centre which is positioned on the peaceline, alongside the peace gate between the Springfield Road and the Woodvale interface, West Belfast. 10x sessions and a one-off open hybrid workshop held a safe container to explore how the expressive artmaking processes and spontaneity might reflect practices in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
Facilitated by Carole Kane, Charmaine McMeekin and supported by John Paul, the project engaged members of the local community in movement, visual expression and Haiku writing. We drew our breath, literally, and brought these shapes into movement, bringing life to the 3x maps described in Breathe. Exploring how they connected with our internal and physical maps of what it means to live, be, and breathe in Belfast.
Results of this creative peace process were rich and inconclusive, enabling participants to find their breath, feet, confidence and a new sense of themselves in this city of Belfast.
Stay Alive. Keep alive. Come alive.
This page shows the processes, films and podcast created during or in response to Breathe, Sept- Dec ’23. Content includes the following:
- 45min film describing the full 10week project and one-off open workshop
- 1hr film showing the open workshop on 1st Nov ’23
- 2min 45sec trailer movie describing the project
- 2x Creative responses to the project, made by the artist/facilitators
- Podcast: conversation by the artist facilitators about their experiences and insights about the project
FILM 1:
This film shows the wider content of the project including the 10x sessions and a one-off open hybrid workshop that explored how the expressive artmaking processes and spontaneity might reflect practices in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
FILM 2:
This film shows the one-off hybrid workshop that took place on 1st November 2023 in Forthspring Inter-community Centre, Belfast
FILM 3:
Trailer movie that explains the project in a nutshell. 2mins 45sec
ARTIST/FACILITATORS’ RESPONSES TO BREATHE
Artist/facilitators on this project, Carole Kane and Charmaine McMeekin created their own aesthetic response to the words of Breathe and their experiences of working with the group. Carole made a large mixed piece and Charmaine created and filmed a dance piece.
CHARMAINE MCMEEKIN : ARTIST/FACILITATOR
Charmaine created this dance piece and explains the background to the piece:
CAROLE KANE – ARTIST FACILITATOR
THE BREATHE PODCAST
This podcast is a conversation between the two artist/facilitators, Carole Kane and Charmaine McMeekin. They reflect on their processes and experiences of working on Breathe, in this context, by considering challenges, surprises and high points of this project.
