Private Project

Volta do Mar

Volta do Mar references a navigational technique perfected by the Portuguese during the Age of Discovery in the 15th century. Literally translated as “to return from the sea,” this technique harnesses the westerlies, or ‘anti-trade winds,’ to navigate ships back from the Caribbean and America to Europe. Here, it serves as a metaphor to reconsider our relationship to place, memory, history, and empire.

Filmed over two years in the artist’s birthplace of Cumbria, the work traces the dark history of Whitehaven, raising questions about the artist’s own complicity as a white British artist.

Through movement, ritual, gesture, and objects, the artist invites us to meditate on our interwoven histories in a reparative gesture—a lament towards the healing of the land.

The film is complemented by vocals and flute composed by acclaimed American jazz artist Ruth Naomi Floyd, whose great-great-grandmother was an enslaved African in America.

  • Elizabeth Kwant
    Director
    Am I not a woman and a sister,
  • Ruth Naomi Floyd
    Sound Composer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Moving image, Artist film
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD, 4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:78
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Elizabeth Kwant

Elizabeth Kwant is a British Artist and filmmaker based in Manchester UK.

My practice is research based, working across film, performance, installation and printmaking, often making work in collaboration with artists and communities. Through my work I’ve partnered with local and national organisations, museums and galleries.

Recent exhibitions include; Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre’s Moving Image Gallery (2023), Sharing Not Hoarding Dundee in partnership with The Maxwell Centre Community Gardens and Ninewells Hospital Gardens (2021), India International Centre, New Delhi (2021), The International Slavery Museum Liverpool in partnership with national charity Causeway supported by Arts council England (2020), The Travelling Gallery - Museums and Galleries Edinburgh (2019).

My work gives voice to socio-political issues facing contemporary society which have historical roots, seeking to unearth hidden histories, remembering and giving voice through performance for film. Ongoing research interests include; legacies of British colonial history (land ownership, heritage sites, industry and generational wealth), migration, immigration detention and gender inequalities.

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