Suné Woods: Aragonite Stars

A five-channel video installation by Suné Woods, this immersive constellation utilizes scenes of waterscapes to speak about such broad concepts as existence, intimacy, healing, and aquatic ecology. In a series of monumental projections, bodies swim underwater, embodying graceful movements of dolphins, sea lions, and other marine life. “The installation,” Woods states, “contemplates bodies of water, bodies in water, bodies without water,” imagery that suggests the possibilities of forming the structure of unlearning that must take place in order to live in this world. “Water, as conduit, speaks to spiritually perceptible realms in which many indigenous mythologies are located.” This work taps into the nexus of both blackness and indigeneity in understanding the work of descentering nature from humans.

Woods is a Los Angeles-based artist who is receiving significant critical attention for her multi-media work. She premiered a shorter version of Aragonite Stars at the 2018 edition of the Hammer Museum’s prestigious Made in L.A. exhibition. For BRIC, her first solo exhibition in New York City, she will expand the video, including a commissioned sound installation by singer-songwriter and musician, Meshell Ndegeocello.

Aragonite Stars will be designed as a visual and sonic experience that will simulate submersion into an aquatic environment. Through the work and its breathtaking waterscapes populated by figures in movement, the artist will prompt visitors to join her in considering strategies of healing, beyond human, centering on how marine life can teach us to better relate to one another, with other species, and with the environment.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Suné Woods (she/her/they/them/he/him) is a noted mid-career artist based in Los Angeles. Her work has been presented in exhibitions including Made in L.A. 2018, Hammer Museum, and When A Heart Scatter, Scatter, Scatter at Everson Museum of Art. She has participated in residencies at Headlands Center of the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and The Center for Photography at Woodstock. Woods is a recipient of the Visions from the New California initiative and the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship Award. In addition, in 2020 she received the prestigious Artadia Award. Woods has served as Visiting Faculty in the CalArts Photography & Media Program, Vermont College of Fine Arts Visual Art Program, and as Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at the UCLA Department of Art.

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