Following the Breath

Join us inside the Conservatory with artist Sam Winston, who uses drawing and breathing to explore the relationship between air quality, environmental issues and mindful creative practice.

It was a simple question – how many plants does one person need to breathe?

Artist Sam Winston wanted to explore how much vegetation it would take for one human to live in an airtight room. How could he illustrate our reciprocal relationship with plants?

For millennia, artists have moved questions out of their heads and into their hands. Putting pen to page invites the hand (and body) into the thinking process, letting intuition in. Drawing and breathwork engage our nervous system to reconnect us to our bodies, fostering a deep sense of rest and wellbeing.

Join artist Sam Winston in the Conservatory to find surprising inks made from air particulates, contribute to a growing participatory art piece, and experience a new way of interacting with plants.

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This project is commissioned by Creative Learning; supported by Wellcome.

Free Free entry

Take Part: Drawing and Breathing

As part of his residency in the Conservatory, Artist Sam Winston has been working with groups of children and young people to explore the air we breathe and where it comes from. The climate crisis and global pandemic have made us acutely aware of the air around us; Sam uses drawing and breathing to explore the relationship between London’s air quality, environmental overwhelm and how creative practice can help us find a moment to reflect upon it all.

Ink drawings produced by young people in the workshops will be gathered together to create a large-scale participatory work to be displayed in the Conservatory alongside Sam Winston’s own work.

You are invited to contribute to this artwork by making your own ink drawing; just visit the Conservatory during residency opening hours, and amongst the calm of the plants, take a moment to draw, reflect, and breathe.

You are advised to bring your own headphones and a smartphone to access the trail. There will be a small number of headphones and devices available if you are unable to use your own. You will have access to control the volume of the stories yourself. Headphones are sanitised before each use.