Breathe on me and I will unfurl in the moisture you exhale, solo exhibition at St James’ Church in Piccadilly, 2021. The exhibition was organised in collaboration with the Royal Academy and part of a program of events coinciding with the Climate Change Summit in Glasgow 2021.
The installation inside the church consisted of video recordings documenting the location of St James’ through the movements of some of its non-human inhabitants; the dogs Earl and Joey, and, the Irish Yew growing in the churchyard, all wearing pet cams. The title imagines the voice of Tortula muralis, a moss growing in the churchyard, whose hygroscopic peristome will unfurl when exposed to moisture.
I also conducted a series of close-up walks looking at lichen, moss, and fossils, using wearable magnifying glasses, taking place in the churchyard and gardens.
Thanks to:
Joey the dog and Lucy Winkett; Earl the dog and Brett Bonner; the Irish Yew in the green churchyard; Diana Clements, Geologists’ Association; Jeffrey Duckett, Professor Emiritus of Botany and John Skinner, lichen recorder for London from The British Lichen Society.
Photographs by Deborah Colvin
Instructions/documentation from the walk in the churchyard can be found here: Walk document