Breathe

Ongoing project

"Breathe" is straightforward: it's about the air we take for granted. This participatory photography project invites strangers, young and older, to place a plastic bag over their heads, capturing a moment of vulnerability, a fleeting sensation of suffocation. By placing a bag over their heads, participants evoke the Bulgarian idiom "to put one's own head in the bag", capturing the self-destructive nature implied in "cutting off the branch you're sitting on". An act so absurd, so counterintuitive, it compels us to pause and ponder. Why would anyone willingly restrict their breath, the very essence of life?

Yet, this is the world we're crafting. With every breath you take, we produce 35.6 tons of plastic, enough for bags that would blanket an area exceeding the entire country of Luxembourg. In the mere moments it takes to read this, we've added enough to approach the size of Cyprus. A suffocating reality, isn't it?

"Breathe" is more than a project; it's a movement. By merging the realms of portrait photography and performance, "Breathe" transforms passive observers into active participants, bridging the gap between awareness and action. Each portrait, raw and evocative, becomes a personal testament, a pledge, echoing the collective responsibility we hold. As you witness these suffocating portraits, remember: change begins with a single breath, a single choice.