Buttercup combines memoir with formal experiment. The film revolves around a single photograph depicting a child wearing a Communion dress, standing beside a man and a cow in a field. Returning to the farm where it was made, the photograph is described and referred to repeatedly throughout the film. These descriptions of still and barely-moving images prompt thoughts on human and bovine domestication, and the entanglements of gender, disability, and wildness. Buttercup is made in close collaboration with audio describer Elaine Lillian Joseph and composer David Donohoe. Captioned and audio-described versions of the film alternate as a 2 channel installation, differing sensory translations accessible for all visitors.
A text in response to the film by Sarah Hayden titled as if […] wearing anklesocks is published to accompany the exhibition of Buttercup at SIRIUS, Cobh, County Cork, 13 April – 29 June 2024. Written to be heard in the air or read on the page, Hayden’s text is available in the following ways:
A printed publication (pictured below) designed by Rose Nordin and produced by Kunstverein Aughrim is available for order here.
An audio recording by Sarah Hayden can be listened to below (20 minutes). The audio recording is accompanied by a reference document, which contains the text of the unspoken footnotes and sources cited.
A word document accessible for use by screen readers is also available to download.
