Working between documentary and the imaginary, Lithuanian-born artist Emilija Škarnulytė creates films and immersive installations that explore deep time and invisible systems, as well as power structures possibly hidden within the cosmic and geological order. In her practice, Cold War military bases, neutrino observatories, decommissioned nuclear power plants, and deep-sea data storage units become relics of a lost human culture.

From the perspective of a ‘future archaeologist’, Škarnulytė positions these artifacts in ways that prompt a different way of seeing and sensing the world. By exploring human-made architectures and invasive processes, she opens an altered perspective from which to question our role in society and nature, driven by processes of evolution and extinction.

As part of her filmic explorations, which often delve into ocean and river habitats, the artist assumes the shape of a mermaid, half-human and half-fish, swimming through abandoned submarine tunnels, hydroelectric plants, and the waters of the Amazon. For Škarnulytė, this hybrid creature embodies not only a fictive future archaeologist but also draws connections between ancient legends and prophecies to create new mythologies for our currently endangered planet.

She seamlessly blurs the boundaries between the human, the nonhuman, and the transcendental, melding scientific and mythological elements into a singular hybrid and vibrant force.