HD Videos
In 2015, the artist traveled to India’s Maharashtra state to capture the sugar manufacturing process during the crushing season. The video documents the around-the-clock operations in one of the sugar factories as they crush sugarcane, extract and clarify the juice, boil it down, and crystallize it into white sugar. The camera follows the intricate performance of human workers and machines, creating a complex industrial landscape that reflects the relationships and dependencies between these actors. The work holds personal significance for the artist, extending themes of exclusion, narrative through the body, and postcolonial labor migration and export trajectories, which have affected her own family.
Simona Žemaitytė (b. 1984) is a Lithuanian artist-filmmaker. Her work was previously awarded at the 15th Tallinn Print Triennial and nominated at Sheffield Doc Fest. She exhibited internationally, including the Museum of Physics in Naples, National Art Gallery of Lithuania, Chroniques Biennale, Loop Barcelona, Oberhausen, 13th Kaunas Biennial; CSW Torun, Centrala Birmingham, Kasa Gallery Istanbul; Galata Perform Istanbul; BAFTA, RichMix, London, CAC Lithuania; Galleries Vartai, Kaire-Desine in Vilnius, Meno Parkas Gallery in Kaunas; Riga Cinema Shorts. She holds a practice-based Ph.D. from the Vilnius Academy of Arts and is currently doing post-doctorate research at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.