Sobia Ahmad

The Breath within the Breath

Gelatin silver RC contact print

8 in. x 70 in.

2023

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

 

The Breath within the Breath

Accordion Book printed on archival Japanese asuka paper

8 in. x 360 in.

2024​

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​​This work is a part of my ongoing film, photography, mixed media, and public art projects that center on Pando. Located across 106 acres in south-central Utah, Pando is a quaking aspen forest of one tree with an immense interconnected root system. Believed to be between 16,000 and 80,000 years old, it is the largest known organism on land. Pando embodies many of the core ideas in my work. I see its root system as a guiding metaphor for interconnectedness and many entangled worlds and ways of knowing.

 

The Breath within the Breath is a continuous image taken on a single roll of 35mm film at dusk at Pando on a fall equinox. I held the camera shutter open and advanced the film through the camera as I slowly turned my body to complete a circle, in sync with my breath. The full moon is caught as a zigzag line on the film. Inspired by the Sufi dervish dance, I aimed to capture Pando as one living organism through my body and breath. The 30-foot accordion book of the same name is made by scanning the 35mm film strip and printed on archival paper. It is displayed on a custom-made low table, inviting viewers to kneel to see the image. ​