The Brief

Janice Tabin

Patients in mental institutions have limited freedom and time outdoors. The patients, especially kids, can feel trapped and imprisoned in the hospital, with not many ways of coping with this feeling. I decided to create a wall installation that helps teenagers practice their breathing exercises, to ease them through this rough period of time in their life. The installation would include an iris diaphragm, which is commonly used as a camera aperture. The iris would open and close to a mindfulness breathing pattern when a sensor detects someone in front of it, and would reveal an Ecosphere, which is an encapsulated ecosystem. Patients could connect to the nature inside the wall, and possibly have a deeper emotional connection with the brine shrimp, who are encapsulated just like the young adults are.