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Silver-Tongued Seas
Maïa Nunes
Pádraig Spillane
Curated by Liquid
16 - 31 October 2021
PV: 16 October, 6-9pm
Opening times: Friday - Sunday, 12-6pm
Liquid is delighted to announce ‘Silver-Tongued Seas’, an exhibition by Maïa Nunes and Pádraig Spillane at Jupiter Woods running from 16th – 31st October 2021.
Using the metaphor of bodies of water as a starting point, the exhibition explores bodily transformation, migration, global trade, borders, and desire, creating a dialogue between the works of two international artists, both exhibiting in London for the first time.
‘Silver-Tongued Seas’ reflects on the sea as a site where diasporas and bio-chemicals move across human and oceanic bodies, exploring the processes of trauma and healing that occur as a consequence of that movement. Through image, sound, and immersive installation environments, both artists mine their personal histories and geographies to pinpoint sites of exchange.
In ‘CROSSINGS’, a new sound installation commissioned by VISUAL Carlow, Maïa Nunes uses interviews with family, archive material and music to explore the myths surrounding the Bermuda triangle, looking at histories of slavery and migration in the Caribbean. This affective audio work sits alongside an installation of raw silk hand-dyed in indigo by the artist.
In ‘What Passes Between Us’, Pádraig Spillane presents a number of reimagined works centred around Cork Harbour, a major hub in the global pharmaceutical trade that manufactures products designed to manipulate the body, including Viagra. Using images printed on mesh and suspended from the ceiling, as well as an ethereal industrial sound piece composed by Simon O’Connor with vocals by mezzo-soprano Michelle O'Rourke, these works locate the harbour as a site of embodied malleability.
‘Silver-Tongued Seas’ has been awarded funding by Culture Ireland, and is supported by VISUAL Carlow as part of the Speech Sounds programme, curated by Iarlaith Ni Fheorais.
For further information and images, please contact Rosa, Roisin and Iarlaith at yourlovingliquid@gmail.com.
Artist Bios
Maïa Nunes (b. 1994) is an Irish-Trinidadian performance artist whose works explore and complicate notions of ocean and survival, time and memory, death and diaspora. Drawing upon magical realism, folklore, ritual and storytelling, their work uses song, text and poetry as a critical access point into both personal and political dialogue. Observing that “Sound does not dissolve in water; it travels”, Maïa uses water as a strong recurrent motif in their work, with ‘CROSSINGS’ exploring the ocean and the memories it holds.
Pádraig Spillane’s (b. 1981) work is at the intersection of photography, collage and assemblage. His 2017 project ‘What Passes Between Us’ is centred around Cork Harbour, a major hub in the global pharmaceutical trade – a place where products for the body are manufactured and exported around the world. Considering the relationships between technologies and the body, Spillane asks what it means to be embodied in a time when the body is adaptable to the point of reconstruction.
Liquid is a curatorial project that explores expressions of intimacy in the private and public realms, in our digital and offline lives. Since 2019, it has produced exhibitions, performance events, talks, reading groups, an online journal and a radio show on Montez Press. Liquid is composed of Rosa Abbott, Roisin Agnew and Iarlaith Ni Fheorais.
Key Dates
16th October
6-9pm : Opening reception
9pm onwards: Afterparty at Avalon Cafe
30th October
1pm: Curator-led tour led by Iarlaith and Rosa