According to the curators of the exhibition Ugnė Marija Makauskaitė and Justina Augustytė, the exhibition aims to acquaint its visitors not only with the history of Lithuanian photography, but with Lithuanian history at large. ‘For this reason, the main topic of the exhibition revolves around the aspect of identity as a tool to understand the oeuvre of presented artists. The exhibition itself consists of three parts that follow both chronological and thematic guidelines: ‘Identity as Reality’, ‘Identity as an Object’ and ‘Identity as a Concept’. Although the timeframe remains obscure, each part is primarily focused on main aspects of each period,’ say the curators.
Photo by Tomas Ivanauskas
Historical context, the major historical events and politics of the state that affected not only artistic creation and its dissemination, but also the dynamic world of individuals, is extremely important here. The story created by the curators is subjective and offers only one of the many ways to get acquainted with Lithuanian photography. It does not avoid contradictions and inconsistencies, but aims only to widen the polylogue between the works and allow unexpected but eloquent connections to arise.
Photo by Tomas Ivanauskas
The exhibition presents works from the rich and continuously growing collection of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, supplemented by works borrowed from artists. In order to reflect the development of Lithuanian photography, the exhibition includes works by artists from different periods – from the almost canonical, iconic photographs of the so-called national “gold mine” to the works of the young generation of emerging artists. Lithuanian photography is a polyphonic story. The boundaries of its periods and trends overlap and intertwine. Therefore, the exhibition, although based on a chronological structure, aims not so much to systematically and consistently recreate the history of the photography of the country, but to convey the diversity of voices and the medium which was (and still is) used by artists who significantly contributed to the formation of the perception of identity (national, communal, individual) and also offered future trajectories for identity.
Exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung will be open until 2 July, 2022.
Exhibition at the National Center of Photography and Images in Taipei will be presented from 8 September to 13 November, 2022.
Curator: Ugnė Marija Makauskaitė
Co-curator: Justina Augustytė
Project partner: Lithuanian Institute for Culture
Organisers: Lithuanian National Museum of Art, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, National Center of Photography and Images in Taipei
