Cabbage and Hole in the Stone
- Holly Márie Parnell
Western Front is pleased to present a screening by artist-in-residence Holly Márie Parnell at The Cinematheque, including her film Cabbage (2023) and a preview of Hole in the Stone (2025).
Though seemingly disparate in subject matter, both films share a contemplative tone that explores themes of defiance and resistance within personal and communal contexts. Through static shots and recorded observations, Parnell crafts portraits of time and place, offering glimpses into lives affected by systemic inequalities. While measured in tone, the films deliver a potent critique of the structures that have failed these individuals and communities.
The screening will begin with an introduction by curator Susan Gibb and conclude with a conversation between Holly Márie Parnell and artist Christine D’Onofrio.
Program
Holly Márie Parnell
Cabbage (2023)
digital video, 22 min.
Cabbage is an intimate film created by Parnell in collaboration with her family. It re-frames language and explores personal agency within an ableist paradigm, centralizing the digital and rhythmic writing of her brother David through eye tracking technology. The film also incorporates the reflections of her mother on a life spent having to prove her son’s humanity. Moving between the contrasts of lived experience and bureaucratic violence, Cabbage subtly examines how a human life is measured and valued. The film documents the months leading up to the family’s move from Canada back to Ireland—a country they had to leave a decade earlier due to austerity-driven cuts to disability funding.
Holly Márie Parnell
Hole in the Stone (2025) [Preview]
digital video, 22 min.
Moving through various farms in the southeast of Ireland, Hole in the Stone captures the collective voice of a community in flux. Suspended between the rhythms of the past and an uncertain future, the film delves into the psychological landscape of independent farmers as they navigate a path that grows increasingly difficult to sustain.
About the Artist & Speaker
Holly Márie Parnell is an Irish/Canadian artist filmmaker based between the United Kingdom and County Wexford, Ireland. Working in film and expanded cinema, her practice looks at ideas around connectedness by exploring tensions between intimacy and alienation, and the ways in which fundamental needs are being threatened and eroded within our current economic and institutional frameworks. Taking a documentary approach, the work is led by personal encounters and is motivated by the subtle yet powerful truths of embodied knowledge and lived experience. She is an alumnus of Film London’s FLAMIN Fellowship and an MFA graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art, London.
Christine D'Onofrio is an artist who lives and works as a guest on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waaututh), Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish), and S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō) nations that some refer to as Vancouver. With a focus on lens-based, her work spans various media. Her practice explores themes related to the nature of artistic practice, current and historical feminisms, exploitation, virtue, humiliation, humour, and desire. She is interested in the contradictions and ambiguities of liberty, especially under capitalism, and her work frequently juxtaposes consumer culture and mass media with art historical references.
Accessibility
The Cinematheque’s theatre is wheelchair accessible and has four wheelchair spots with adjacent companion seats. If you have a mobility impairment and require assistance in attending a screening, we are happy to provide your companion with a complimentary ticket. You can notify us in advance via phone +1 (604) 688-8202 or email info@thecinematheque.ca, or speak to someone at our box office when you arrive. Further details about accessibility at The Cinematheque can be found here.
Acknowledgements
Presented in partnership with The Cinematheque, with support from the Audain Foundation.
Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.
We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.