Æqualia (2023) is an immersive audio-visual installation by Emilija Škarnulytė that swims through the churning waters of the Amazon Basin.
A post-human chimera (part pink river dolphin, part mermaid) glides along with dolphins through the six kilometres of the Encontro das Águas. The 'Meeting of Waters', the Encontro das Águas is the confluence of the Rio Solimões and Rio Negro, which births the Amazon River.
Rio Solimões’ milky white waters, originating in glacial melt, turbid with suspended and nutrient-rich silts and clays from the High Andes, meets the heavy, black flow of the Rio Negro, dark with the decay of lowland rainforests, warm and hypoxic.
Installation view of Æqualia at Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, 2024.
They come together in fractal swirls along their meeting points: similar phenomena are found in diverse and dynamic environments, ranging from the Red Spot of Jupiter to fluctus cloud formations, to the curls of a thin layer of oil on top of a simmering pot of water. In Æqualia these fractal swirls build and accelerate as the two streams become one, in a vision blurring the boundaries between myth and reality.
Installation view of Æqualia as part of the homonymous solo exhibition at Canal Projects, New York, 2024.
The river basin is home to the pink Amazon River dolphins (Inia geoffrensis geoffrensis), locally known as botos. The dolphins use their honed sense of echolocation to navigate both the cooler waters of Rio Solimões and the warm, opaque waters of Rio Negro, moving between the two with ease. Swimming alongside the botos, Škarnulytė embodies the mermaid Æqualia—a chimera figure—existing at the intersection of multiple realms.
Installation view at Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, 2024.
By October 2023, within a year of completing the filming of Æqualia, the Encontro das Águas ran dry due to excessive droughts, resulting in a
mass dying-off of the botos.
Embodied as a mermaid—half fish, half person—Škarnulytė unveils the repercussions of human hubris. Through her incarnation,
she presents visions extending beyond the perceptual limits of our species,
urging reflection on the consequences of our actions.
A film by Emilija Škarnulytė
Co-commissioned by Canal Projects and the 14th Gwangju Biennale.
Editing: Vytautas Tinteris
Composers: Jokūbas Čižikas, Vivian
Caccuri, Thiago Lanis, Savio de Queiroz
Sound mixing and mastering: Savio De
Queiroz
Drone Pilot: Bruno Hayden
Barreto
Underwater camera: Michael
Dantas
Swimmer: Emilija Škarnulytė
Production: Mirror Matter Productions
Featured location:
The Encontro das
Águas, Rio Solimões and Rio Negro, in
Manaus, Brazil (3°8'12"S 59°54'17"W).
