The Weight of Air

Gravity is a constant, yet we spend our lives trying to negotiate with it. We run, we jump, we push our bodies into the empty space between the ground and the sky, hoping for a second of suspension. It is a brief rebellion. For that heartbeat, the earth loses its claim on us. We are not falling; we are not standing. We are simply existing in the middle of a transition. There is a particular silence in that apex, a stillness that defies the effort required to reach it. It is the same quiet found in the deep woods when the wind stops and the trees hold their breath. We are always preparing for the landing, for the inevitable return to the soil, but the memory of the lift remains. What happens to the body when it forgets the ground?

Somnath Chakraborty has captured this suspension in his image titled Dual Take off to 90. He shows us the exact moment when the earth is left behind. Does the air feel different when you are no longer touching the world?