I Can’t Breathe

Abstract

I Can't Breathe is a collaborative sequence produced by Steven S George and Vinit Gupta. It was published on Instagram.com/vinitguptaphoto on 1st June 2020 from 12 pm to 10 pm in ten frame narratives. The narrative unfolds in the form of inner monologues by a character whose identity is allusive. The mysterious narrator has a habit of forgetting. It's through forgetting the narrator remembers many things in the narrative. Character's memory is playing upon itself, due to which the character is confusing reality, past, and stories. The narrative unfolds in the mixing up of different worlds and identities and finding affinities amongst them. The frame takes its cue from the phrase "I can't breathe," which were the last words of George Floyd, who was pinned beneath three police officers and died due to choking. The unreliable narrator brings a correspondence to the particular instance with the working class, migrant workers, sexual and racial identities.