The Sea Inside Us, 2025
Ruth E Lyons, in collaboration with Colm Hogan
Ireland; 23:27 minutes

What is food without salt? Food without flavour? Life without emotion?

There is the remains of an ancient ocean under the countries of northern Europe, a bed of salt that extends from Ireland to Russia. For ten years, the artist Ruth E Lyons has been tracing this seam making carvings from rock salt of various colours.

The film The Sea Inside Us follows the artist into mines 300 metres underground, and across the snow – capped peaks of vast mountain ranges. Against these epic backdrops salt becomes a prism through which Lyons formulates questions that fathom the unknowable while reaching for the eternal. The film is shot in sites of salt production in Northern Ireland, Switzerland and Sicily and at the artist’s coastal home in the west of Ireland.

The Sea Inside Us is a debut film by artist Ruth E Lyons made in collaboration with cinematographer Colm Hogan.

Credits
Editor: David Qualter
Sound Design: Bob Brennan
Underwater footage: Kevin L Smith
Additional camera: Roman Bugovskiy and David Qualter
Original cello music composed and performed by Julia Kent
‘Oíche réaltach’ and ‘Feilimí Cam’ composed for the film by Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, performed by Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde and Aodhán Gavigan on vocals, Daniel Bodwell on double bass.

The Sea Inside Us is funded by salt producers Irish Salt Mining, Salines Suisses and Sosalt in addition to the Arts Council Visual Arts Project Award and Kunstverein Aughrim. The project has been kindly supported throughout by EUsalt whom Ruth has been working with since 2014. Special thanks to AEMI for their assistance in the promoting and dissemination of the film.

Location: People’s Pavilion, IMMA Front Lawns
Free, drop-in. Please note, capacity is limited so early arrival is advised.

Artist-led children’s workshop as part of IMMA’s Explorer family art workshops programme.  As a special edition of the Explorer workshops, this event takes place outdoors in the People’s Pavilion and is conceived and lead by artist Ruth E Lyons, assisted by our experienced Visitor Engagement Team.  

Children and grown-ups are invited to participate in a hands-on experience of sculptural carving. Using simple tools, marine forms can be carved out of bars of soap, and the process of hand polishing crystalline rock salt can be explored. Throughout the workshop, the artist Ruth E Lyons shares her experience, methods and tools for carving sculptural forms from rock salt.  A fun and tactile process with playful outcomes, all art materials are provided by IMMA. 

Location: People’s Pavilion, IMMA Front Lawns
Free, drop-in. Please note, capacity is limited so early arrival is advised.

Live performance of the film score for The Sea Inside Us (2025) featuring the compositions ‘Oíche réaltach’ and ‘Feilimí Cam’. Composed for the film by Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, these pieces are performed by Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde and Aodhán Gavigan on vocals, with Daniel Bodwell on double bass, together with additional newly composed works. 

About the performers

Daniel Bodwell studied classical double bass with Anthony Bianco at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and jazz double bass with Detlev Beier at the Hochschule fuer Kuenste, Bremen, Germany. He has played with Louis Stewart, Phil Ware, Michael, Hugh, and Richie Buckley, as well as many other excellent Irish jazz musicians. He performs regularly with Frankie Gavin and De Danann, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Quiet Music Ensemble, Declan O’Rourke, Jerry Fish, Duke Special, the New Irish Jazz Orchestra, Nigel Mooney, Mary Coughlan, the Francesco Turrisi Trio, Julie Feeney, the Sue Rynhart/Daniel Bodwell Duo, and the Micah Gaugh Trio. With the Crash Ensemble, he played the Dublin and New York premieres of Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘Grá agus Bás’ featuring Iarla Ó Lionáird and the Dublin premiere of Dennehy’s ‘That the Night Come’ featuring Dawn Upshaw. Recent recordings include Nigel Mooney’s ‘ Mooney’s Blues’, Declan O’Rourke’s ‘In Full Colour‘, Mary Coughlan’s ‘Scars on the Calender’, Dave Flynn’s DFF: ‘Pouric Songs’, Sue Rynhart’s ‘Crossings’, Quiet Music Ensemble, Nina Hynes’ ‘Goldmine’, Crash Ensemble: Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘That the Night Come’, Ian Wilson’s ‘Double Trio’, Francesco Turrisi’s ‘Si Dolce e il Tormento’, David Lyttle’s ‘True Story’, and the Dubliners 40th Anniversary. 

Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde is a sean-nós singer who plays uilleann pipes, accordion and piano.  He is also a composer and researcher of sean-nós. A native Irish speaker from the Donegal Gaeltacht, Mac Giolla Bhríde began singing at an early age and has gone on to achieve a highly acclaimed career, including winning the prestigious Corn Uí Riada competition in 2009. He has performed at numerous festivals and venues across Ireland, Britain, USA, Japan and Europe. With already five critically acclaimed albums, he has recently launched an album and book outlining the origins of sean-nós, Gealach na gCuanta. Mac Giolla Bhríde has also published three children’s songbooks. 

Aodhán Gavigan is a music educator, conductor and composer, recently graduating from the TU Dublin conservatoire and Trinity College Dublin. He is also a solo classical tenor under the tuition of Emmanuel Lawler. He has studied musicianship and pre-instrumental programmes at the Kodaly institute, Hungary. A soloist with the Irish Youth Choir, Gavigan is no stranger to the choral scene, having been involved in national choirs from the age of 13. Recently, he won the Corn Cuimneacháin Mhic Cathmhaoi (Irish language singing competition) at the Feis Ceoil Summer Feis festival, Dublin.