Sunflower
4K video, 12min 46s, sound, voiceover, 2023
Sunflower was inspired by the sunlight, heatwaves sweeping across Europe, and escapism to nature. The video pieces together artificial and natural environments made from hyperrealistic 3D sequences and stock footage in the style of a vlog. The protagonist in the film, a lonely sunflower, is depicted delivering a long-winded interior monologue that discloses its empathy and distress. It details “why she decided to quit the ecosystem and ran away from the agricultural fields,” manifesting a sense of climate vulnerability in the flower’s synthetic flesh.
In the video, the agricultural fields are replaced with the greyscale 3D bedroom, and the sunlight is substituted by the illumination of a selfie ring. By blending the elements of natural history and 3D imagery, juxtaposing the textureless greyscale with lush glimpses of the outdoors, the artists portray feelings of loneliness and confusion experienced on the brink of nature. By granting a voice to the non-human protagonist, the video Sunflower captures our own climate anxiety and tells a story of interdependence amid a global climate emergency.
Installation views of an exhibition Odd Attractor at Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, 2023
