Breathing Mountains

solo exhibition Caroline O Breen Gallery, Amsterdam 2018

Breathing Mountains is the final presentation of a five year quest for stillness around eight ancient sacred mountains in Europe and Asia. During five years I observed the mountains, climbed them, photographed, made drawings and dug in the earth for clay to make small sculptures. This way I was researching the relation between man and nature. 

Soon however, I discovered that ‘pure’ silence and solitude were nowhere to be found. Looking for the timeless spirit of the mountains, I found fleeting traces of human existence everywhere – other people, ruins, circles, silver foils, clothing….
And so, almost casually, my quest developed into an investigation and presentation of one of the most pressing philosophical themes of this moment: the Anthropocene.

The mountains that I have worked and lived on are: Mount Fuji (JP), Olympus (GR), Ararat (TR, AM, IR), The Five Great Sacred Mountains of China, The Wuyue (CN).

The exhibition was accompanied by the book Breathing Mountains (designed and published by Art Paper Editions in Ghent)