DON’T FORGET TO FORGET TO BREATHE

An edition specially created by Tiona Nekkia McClodden (*1981) for her first institutional exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel in 2023. For her exhibition, the US-American artist presents sculptures based on readymade elements used in industrial cattle farming, paintings on leather, videos, and performances, all based on McClodden’s ongoing exploration of the intersections of control, mercy, desire, and pleasure. In this context, the artist created a special edition using some of the same methods she uses for her leather paintings, hand-dying raw leather and, in this case, hand-embossing each piece. The process creates unique variations even as each bears the title of her Kunsthalle Basel exhibition—a line written by the late poet and activist Brad Johnson (to whom McClodden has rendered homage in several previous artworks and installations)–alongside the inclusion of a line from her own poem of breath(conceived for her live performance within the exhibition).