Click each image to watch short video clips. All clips are low-resolution segments of longer video pieces. The full resolution and full length versions are available on DVD. To purchase, please contact Basia
RECEDING/RESEEDING
Hand-carved ice books, embedded with local native riparian seeds, are launched into rivers where the seeds are released as the ice melts in the current. When the plants regenerate and grow along the bank they help sequester carbon, hold the banks in place, and provide shelter. 2009 (15:08)
A GATHERING OF WATERS: BOULDER CREEK, CONTINENTAL DIVIDE TO CONFLUENCE
Arapaho Glacier feeds Boulder Creek in Colorado and provides a large portion of the City of Boulder's drinking water. Yet the glacier is melting and receding rapidly. Where will they get their water in the future? We view this river through the eyes of locals along the length of the stream. 2007 (5:20)
BILHARZIA BLUES: AN INTEGRATED ARTISTIC/BIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN EGYPT, ETHIOPIA AND NEPAL
This film is not as dry as the title implies. It is a lively and informative look at the terrible beauty of a waterborne disease, Schistosomiasis, or Bilharzia, which Irland has been investigating as an artist for two decades. In each country Irland works with local musicians who compose and play new songs about an unusual topic – Bilharzia – that are sung in Arabic, Nubian, Nepalese, and Amharic accompanied by traditional instruments. 2009 (19:35)
BOOK OF DROUGHT: A WATER MEMORY
In many places around the world the memory of water is more tangible than the physicality of water itself. The implications of this are enormous, including a huge increase in environmental refugees. 2009. (3:38)
A GATHERING OF WATERS: RÍO GRANDE, SOURCE TO SEA
Focusing on the 1,875 miles of the Río Grande/Río Bravo this project took 5 years and involved hundreds of people. 1995-2000. (26:30)
ELEPHANTWATER
Recently, when Irland was in Terai, Nepal researching elephants sick with the waterborne disease Schistosomiasis, she became enthralled by how much they loved being in the Rapti River. She attached her camcorder to the neck of one of the elephants to shoot underwater footage. The casing leaked and ruined the camera, but the film survived and provides this glimpse of what it would be like to see through an elephant's eyes while submerged. Irland also worked with students at the Kathmandu Music School who wrote an original song about elephants for the soundtrack. 2009 (3:00)
KATHMANDU'S SACRED RIVER: ON THE BAGMATI AT PASHUPATINATH TEMPLE
This film provides a colorful view of the timeless rhythms of daily life as well as death rituals on the ghats of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, along the banks of the most sacred river in Nepal, the Bagmati, which flows as an open sewer into the Ganges. 2009 (11:06)