The works of Lithuanian artist Emilija Šarnulytė (born 1987, Vilnius) resemble an inscription into the course of time and the existing as well as created infrastructures of our planet. Her practice moves on the threshold between worlds: through entanglements of the human, the ecological, and the cosmic, between archaeology and speculation, bodies* and geological environments. The intertwining of science, nature and myth is central to the artist's work. Many of her projects are based on long-term, site-specific scientific research into hidden ecosystems or human infrastructures. From the perspective of a future archaeologist, Šarnulytė searches for the ruins and places that we cannot reach or tend to ignore. She is guided by a profound interest in geochronology and an alternative perception of the world from posthuman perspectives. Oscillating between the micro and macro, her works allude to the hubris of the Anthropocene, which has put humans at the centre of the universe.
Important references for Emilija Šarnulytė's practice include Marija Gimbutas's archaeomythology and Aleksandra Kasuba's artistic and architectural visions. From a deeply (eco-)feminist perspective, she explores visionary practices and the origins of myths for their potential for transformation. Hybrid goddesses, mermaids and serpent beings are recurring elements in her work. For the artist, the mermaid is both an embodiment and an artistic tool—n “xtended”body instrument. Through the eyes of a posthuman creature, we can see the indelible traces and scars left by humans in a short period of time. As in Æqualia (2023), Šarnulytė glides through six kilometres of the Amazon in the form of a chimera—art dolphin, part mermaid—long the line where the milky Rio Solimõs meets the dark waters of the Rio Negro. She is flanked by pink Amazon river dolphins, which protect her from the dangers posed by the river.
Škarnulytė's works elude the obvious; they intertwine facts and fiction, real places and mythical figures. Just as multi-layered and volatile as her art is the title she has chosen for her solo show at the Kunsthaus Graz: Waters Call Me Home. Water acts as an abstraction in the exhibition; it becomes the metaphor for a holistic, inclusive worldview. The title is an allusion to the source of life and to the element that the nomadic artist continuously explores. Each artwork serves as a new relational mapping in a visible and sensory manifestation between deep time, our planetary crisis and speculative futures, calling on the audience to reorient our perceptual and affective relationships with the planet.
Emilija Škarnulytė opens up spaces for experience and experimentation that are readapted specifically for each exhibition venue. At the Kunsthaus Graz, videos, sculptures, light and sound merge into a multi-layered rhythm reminiscent of a cosmic underwater landscape. The “osmic Belly”of the building is perfectly suited to this kind of immersive spatial experience. A 20-metre-long monolith shows a collage of video works and was devised by Škarnulytė specifically for this site. Light sculptures loom in the space in rhythm with sound, lasers measure the underwater world of the exhibition space. Also presented for the first time—oth digitally and in original form—s a new series of drawings in which the artist explores minerals as autonomous matter.
Waters Call Me Home should also be read as an appeal calling on us—hether human, cyborg, goddess or chimera—o integrate ourselves once more into the greater picture. In this sense, Emilija Šarnulytė’ exhibition is an immersive invitation for alternative thinking that shuts out neither science nor mythology, but which recognizes our tentacular interconnectedness.
