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An individual’s pneuma is represented here as a system of interconnected thresholds. Subject to the external forces of »Environment« and to the internal forces of «Mortality» the identity is malleable yet contingent on perpetual growth. The pieces of who we are – are sometimes lost – yet it is this coda that allows for future growth. Following the thoughts of Bruno Latour, the human is not separate from its environment; the boundaries between the environment and body bleed into each other both physically and consciously. In this context, the mask acts as an extension of the life force of its host – the same inside the spheres as out. The air of the self – separated by a threshold – from the air of the environment.
Procession through our lives as conscious beings occasionally requires us to let go of pieces that compose our ‘identity’. My inspiration in making this mask is many things, the most recent of which is my recent departure from my home state of New Mexico in pursuit of my academic career in Seattle. The choice to leave my friends and family was terribly difficult. However, to me it was a necessary sacrifice in fulfilling dreams I had imagined for myself. The feeling of leaving home is caustic, but it is soothed by the promise of self-love. The experience of moving made me reflect on the choices my family made to leave behind our family in Argentina shortly before I was born. I then drew parallels between countless other events of painful change that had framed the perspective through which I perceived myself.
The composition of one’s identity is a dynamic exchange of energy between body, mind, and environment. This continuous metamorphosis is represented through the interconnected system of balloons that make up the Pneuma mask. Air is free to move and exchange between the balloons but will only do so when acted on by an external force. Visitors to the installation can add air to the system (via pump) or manipulate the balloons by hand. However, by not being able to remove air, the mask is subject to the entropy of mortality and is at risk to the caustic POP of change.
