Venus Patel is an artist living in Dublin, born in Los Angeles, with Indian and Latin American heritage. She makes films informed by her lived experience of being bothered due to the way she expresses her identity, namely as a transfemme person of colour. Her works reference narratives of the body and performativity; self-representation and the creation of a public persona; gender-based violence; and traditions of protest associated with queer rights. They blur the boundaries between the real and the fantastical, and employ irony, absurdity and abjection to critique society’s dominant value systems.

Daisy: Prophet of the Apocalypse mocks the documentary form to examine social and sexual conformity. The film follows a character named Daisy (played by Patel), who emigrates from Texas to Ireland after being rejected by her family. Once arrived, Daisy encounters a goddess on a mountaintop who implores her to free the world from the evils of heteronormativity before the impending apocalypse. Dressed in a cowboy hat and a white dress and carrying a pink megaphone, Daisy preaches across various locations in Dublin, spreading the goddess’s message and accumulating a group of followers. Through parody, the film comments on the cult of the leader prevalent in organised faiths, particularly Christianity.

This exhibition is curated by Miguel Amado, Director, SIRIUS.