A lung breathing at the bottom of the soul
Violet Handforth
2025


Ink, charcoal, graphite, acrylic, staples, paper

175 x 99in (Dims variable)

“I pronounce the word God...the anarchy of its entrance into the discourse”
-Emmanuel Levinas

Inspired by the organ clock of Classical Chinese Medicine’s chrono-medicine system, these drawings were made improvisationally during the installation of the exhibition. Handforth draws out the heart, pericardium, triple warmer, and gallbladder channels: during the course of the show, we transitioned from the time of the Triple Warmer - the most mysterious meridian, an organ that does not exist, perhaps the intersitium, the fascia, or the adrenals- into the time of the Gallbladder. From the time of greatest darkness, all yin, through the Winter Solstice, to the time when the light, yang Qi, begins to return, like a faint light at the mouth of a cave, a golden arrow pointing towards the light from within darkness. Some of the drawings bleed off the paper and onto the wall itself. The paper and bodies are folded around and onto the window ledge.

“Triple Warmer” Group Exhibition
Shoot the Lobster
Dec 18-31, 2025.
Installation shots by Cherry Handforth