Pigeon Breath deconstructs the relationship between belief systems, including Marxism and psychoanalysis, and post-structuralism, visually delving into non-binary assertions, such as speciesism. With primarily Asian music as a sound track, suggesting Buddhist philosophy, the film incorporates a visual analysis reflecting on the symbiosis between consumerism, consumption and war. By doing so there is an emphasis on how the history of war is used to fuel current nostalgia and nationalism, with the fragility of a crumbling eco-system. The film ties reflections on war with those on conspiracy theory and political assassination, mirroring changes in art movements, with the developments of Picasso and his discombobulation of the figure impacting on perceptions of the identity and the other via surveillance.

The inauthentic urban landscape is contrasted with controlled semi-authentic nature, moving further into the notion that, while human’s attempt to control their nature and the external world, elements of this are futile within a wider metaphysical paradigm. This is all bracketed by iconic figures of desire who control the gaze, including Marilyn Monroe and Katherine Hepburn, utilised as constructed figures of idealised love. These are neither real or unreal, juxtaposed with ‘The 6 Million Dollar Man’, Lee Majors, and Japanese humanoid machinery, underlying the shift in human nature to robot nature. Finally, nature triumphs, the music euphoric and uplifting, with the symbol of the daisy chain indicating the value of every part of life.
Jackie Reuben, Editorial Board, Transgressive Culture