Combat Breathing - Envisioning Justice RE:ACTION

"Combat Breathing"

Patricia Nguyen

Patricia Nguyen wearing a hat surrounded by greenery

Patricia Nguyen

www.patricianguyen.info

Patricia Nguyen’s Combat Breathing is an artist book series. The first artist book, “Breath: Black Radical Thought & Buddhism,” features an interview with Kilroy Watkins, a survivor of torture under the reign of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. Watkins’ shares his reflections through his practice of buddhist meditation while incarcerated and the power of breath. His interview discusses systemic racism and the afterlives of slavery as it is embedded in urban planning, redlining, policing, public education, and the prison industrial complex. His words offer us insights into the interconnected history of Chicago, Great Migration, U.S. war in Vietnam, and the possibilities of spirituality grounded in breath to heal and fight for justice.

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