Projected onto three screens arranged in a semi-circle, it [Excluded by the Nature of Things] unfolds as a procession of beautifully shot seasonal images in a variety of natural settings in Ireland.
This cyclical natural pattern is effectively interspersed with bursts of animation and staged action featuring actors. It is a fairly brief work with great forward momentum and clever
use of all three screens, with a constant flow and interplay of images across and between them. The use of the three screens is integral to the way the piece is constructed and presented, and not an extraneous element, and it does give the work a nice enveloping presence. Credit must go here not only to Dick herself, who was responsible for the camera-work, but also to her editor, Florence Brument, who manages the jigsaw nature of the thing brilliantly. What comes across is the play of natural rhythms , our intimate cultural connections with seasonal events and places, and, most notably, in a stylised sequence in which a man and a woman use the limestone pavement of the Burren as an emotional chessboard, allusions to male-female relationships.
Aidan Dunne, Irish Times, Dec 11th 2002
Stills from Excluded by the Nature of Things
