Súitú;
Curated by aemi
Sat. 15 Jul. – Fri. 8 Sep. 2023
Súitú – an Irish language term pronounced Suet-two – signifies the sucking in-and-out sound made as the sea moves through stones at the shoreline, pulling them into water before rolling them back onto dry land. Evoking the elemental, the programme’s pacing picks up not just on the familiar ebbs and flow of the sea, but also the external forces that circumscribe contemporary lived experience. From inner psychological journeys to the phenomenological, the seven films in this programme together offer an emotional, embodied and sensory experience.
Featuring work by Fábio Andrade (Brazil), Susan Hughes (Northern Ireland), Morgan Quaintance (U.K.), Bárbara Lago (Argentina), Sofia Theodore-Pierce (U.S.A), Lisa Freeman (Ireland) and Holly Márie Parnell (Ireland), ‘Súitú’ is an aemi programme that forms connections between contemporary moving image work by Irish and international artists.
Running Time: 50 minutes
Fábio Andrade, Contorno/ Contour
2021, Brazil, 10 mins
“Open the leaves I will see my body turned into flower.” – Gabriel Joaquim dos Santos
Susan Hughes, Eyes Like Cats
2022, Northern Ireland, 3 mins
After an encounter with bioluminescent phosphorescence, a line of enquiry begins into how humans have made sense of mysterious natural occurrences throughout history.
Morgan Quaintance, A Human Certainty
2021, United Kingdom, 20 mins
The inevitability of separation, loss and death are explored through an introspectively written monologue and a selection of stills, moving images and written text.
Bárbara Lago, Yon
2021, Argentina, 8 mins
Using archive material from their childhood, Bárbara Lago re-programmes their childhood’s mythology and reflects on their body traversed by affections, fictions and the passing of time.
Sofia Theodore-Pierce, Other Tidal Effects
2021, USA, 7 mins
Catamenial seizures, tidal correspondences, a sonic EEG, and a lullaby in partial translation. Highlighting the seams with the darts. An exploration of epileptic rhythms and sensations through moving image practice.
“And there are other tidal effects, mysterious and intangible.” – Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea
Lisa Freeman, Hook, Spill, Cry Your Eyes Out
2020, Ireland, 3 mins
The work touches on things that are inflated: bills, lungs, bellies, airbags, egos.
Holly Márie Parnell, Cabbage
2023, Ireland, 28 mins
An intimate film made in collaboration with Parnell’s family, Cabbage looks at the complexities of bodily autonomy within an ableist paradigm. Through moments of reflection and observation, the film focuses on her brother’s writings using eye tracking technology, and her mother’s memories, to explore how we shape a sense of self under the pervasive weight of unspoken assumptions, categories and fixed definitions that get placed onto bodies. Dissecting layers of language, agency and power, the film is a subtle examination of how a human life is measured and valued.
Text by Ruairí McCann, commissioned by aemi to accompany 'Súitú', an aemi touring programme featuring films by Fábio Andrade (Brazil), Susan Hughes (Northern Ireland), Morgan Quaintance (UK), Bárbara Lago (Argentina), Sofia Theodore-Pierce (USA), Lisa Freeman (Ireland) and Holly Márie Parnell (Ireland). Read Ruairí's McCann's text in full on the aemi website here.
Image credits: Holly Márie Parnell, Cabbage, 2023, Ireland, digital, 28 mins, image courtesy of the artist