Exhale 2020

Summary

In 2020, the City of Melbourne partnered with the Hero Apartment Building Owners Corporation to present a series of billboard-scale public art commissions on the facade of the iconic building in Russell Street, Melbourne. This photograph by Zan Wimberley was an entry in the public art competition and was subsequently acquired by the Art and Heritage Collection in 2021.

This photograph was conceived of and created in the Artist’s living room during the 2020 Melbourne lockdown. Wimberley used a combination of high-speed imaging techniques and fluid dynamics to capture her breath, made visible by being encased in soap bubbles. Too fast for the human eye to see, the soap bubbles have been frozen in time as they morph through many colours and shapes before popping within seconds. The soap bubbles resemble tiny planets, anatomical hearts, gems and precious metals, alluding to the importance of every breath. Like a soap bubble popping, the events of 2020 seemed unexpected, yet inevitable.