Shezad Dawood: Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea

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Leviathan: From the Forest to the Sea premieres Episode 8: Cris, Sandra, Papa & Yasmine, the latest episode in Shezad Dawood’s epic film series, Leviathan Cycle, that considers some of the urgent issues of our time such as climate change. Episode 8 was developed remotely in collaboration with Guarani scriptwriters, directors and activists Carlos Papá, Cristine Takuá, Sandra Benites, and Brazilian artist and researcher Anita Ekman. This film not only expands the collective and horizontal filmmaking method that has become a central feature of the cycle’s second half, but reduces its own environmental impact through an intimate yet remote co-authorship.

Set in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest – one of the most ecologically diverse and threatened biomes on earth – Episode 8 blends indigenous cosmology with fictional narrative, shot footage and especially commissioned animation by Anita Ekman, to chart an embodied, spiritual and ecological journey along the age-old Guarani path that links the forest to the sea. 

Alongside this new film in Gallery One, Dawood will also be showing a series of existing Leviathan works in Gallery Two. The plurality of voices involved in the Leviathan universe is manifested in the multiplicity of media on show: from watercolour to textile-based painting, and from traditional craft techniques to the research papers that contribute to each part of the process. The accompanying works interrogate our evolving relationship to the forest and the sea, land-use, histories of economic and social process, deep time and future marine environments.

Shezad Dawood, Leviathan Cycle, Episode 8: Cris, Sandra, Papa & Yasmine, 2023. Single screen, HD video, 17:33. Commissioned by Hybrid Futures (a multi-part collaboration focusing on climate, sustainability, collaborative learning and co-production between Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool; Touchstones Rochdale; University of Salford Art Collection and Shezad Dawood Studio, and generously supported by Arts Council England and Art Fund), Leviathan — Human & Marine Ecology Ltd, Void Gallery, Derry.