Commissioned by 180 Studios, Black Corporeal (Breathe) is a critical examination of the relationship between materiality, and the black psyche. Exploring the idea that our ability to breathe—an act that is continuously challenged by everything from air pollution, stress, and anxiety, and societal prejudice—is more than our lung’s ability to take in air, but a reflection of the way we live individually and together. Black Corporeal engages with both the physical and metaphysical aspects of breathing and asks if we can reposition ourselves through the extrinsic, the creation of black structures and realities that allow us to breathe, freely.
Concentrating on the choir’s continuous refrain ‘breathe’ the film explores the cyclical nature of breathing and the potential of finding both peace and epiphany through this process. Black Corporeal challenges us to see this simple act as one of meditation and release, a physical act that is both personal and political, reflexive and intentional.
It reminds us that the revelation is in your chest.
