Gwen Burlington discusses Patrick Hough’s film The Black River of Herself in Visual Artists’ Ireland News Sheet

Published date: 28 Jan 2022

Patrick Hough’s recent film, The Black River of Herself, which features in aemi’s new 2022 touring programme ‘In the long now’, is discussed by Irish writer Gwen Burlington in the latest edition of Visual Artists’ Ireland Newssheet (Jan-Feb 2022)

In Hough’s film, a growling archaeologist digs out a body of a bog, found in the peatlands of an undisclosed rural site. Excavated from a peat harvester, he or she lies damaged, half exposed; but unlike the bog bodies that lie rigid in the National Museum, Hough awakens her to life. An off-screen voice tells of her worries, as she subtly trembles and apologizes for her exposure: “The atmosphere […] tastes like a funeral.” The film moves from scenes of the excavation with light small talk between the archaeologist and the bog body – “You look fresh” – to panning views of the peat-stored landscape, filled with philosophical reflections on the state of the planet… Gwen Burlington

Read the full article online on VAI’s website here

‘In the long now’ premiered at Cork International Film Festival in November 2021 and will tour to cinemas and venues across Ireland and internationally in 2022. The programme explores ideas relating to love, liveness and mortality, and also features work by Irish filmmakers Eavan Aiken and Sandy Kennedy, and international filmmakers Alee Peoples, Sylvia Schedelbauer and Jeamin Cha. More details on the tour are available here