Swamp Breathing
John Brooks, Audrey Tan, Panda Wong
7–24 Apr 2021
measuring the passing
of time via my watch strap tan line
dribbling dry
lately,
I have noticed that my nails grow more rapidly when I’m hung over,
Fingernails made of alcohol toxins
Excreted by my body
Continuously collecting ingredients for a hypothetical spell
Digging, excavating, swamp breathing
Invisibleintimate
My shoes feel like they are digesting my feet and also themselves
Thinking about: wearing/holding something for one year to distil it with the
essence of yourself & then passing it on to someone u love
Swamp Breathing was a collaborative exhibition by John Brooks and Audrey Tan. The exhibition was accompanied by the poem save all the soft things* by Panda Wong.
This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.
John Brooks works with textiles, video and installation, making intuitively and working around the way materials behave. He is interested in connections with things, communicating with rocks and potentially projecting thoughts and ideas onto non-human entities.
Audrey Tan is an artist and jeweller based in Naarm/Melbourne who is on the cusp of Capricorn and Aquarius. She is interested in smelly colours, broken things u find on the floor, tiny objects, and durational playlists.
Panda Wong is a Malaysian-Chinese poet who lives on unceded Wurundjeri land. She is an Associate Editor at The Suburban Review, a Performance Review board member and a 2020 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk fellow. The first poem she ever wrote was a eulogy. Her first chapbook angel wings dumpster fire was published by Puncher & Wattmann in 2022. Her first EP, salmon cannon me into the abyss, a collaboration with multiple friends was released in July 2022.
