Faculty of Art

Criticism and Curatorial Practice

Nina Ankisetty

In Draw Out

In Draw Out consists of a series of charcoal drawings that were created during one breath. In between drawings, I performed breathing exercises to extend the period of time I could hold my breath. This exemplifies the need for flexibility and comfort. The book was also written with a typewriter, including a list of instructions that were followed and the breathing exercises that I could perform. Accompanying each of the 11 drawings are reflections stating how long I held by breath in seconds, my thoughts at that moment, and what breathing exercises I performed to prepare for the drawing. The transferability of the charcoal adds looseness and messiness to the incredibly structured and data-oriented layout of the text-based pages. This artist book demonstrates how structuring one’s breathing by performing breathing exercises can be beneficial, resulting in more detailed drawings, however as the drawings progressed, they got darker and more urgent, showing the tension felt in the body. It is through this that the book highlights the absurdity of greatly structuring a creative process. In my text-based works, I have chosen to use a typewriter to reference information, data, and briefs, which reference the history of conceptual art, specifically the exhibition "Information" curated by Kynaston McShine. With the typewriter, I enjoy how mistakes cannot be erased, leading to an intentionality in every key pressed. This conscious activity is slowed, compared to typing on a computer, which gives it an inherent temporal element.