Random encounters, contacts happen daily. You can never know what will affect your actions and what will follow. A stranger smiles, wishes a good day, and then - an unexpected result. It all started on an early November morning when I suddenly found myself in Kernavė - the ancient capital of Lithuania. I could have easily stayed in my bed and finished the marathon of dreams. Instead, I see the church, chapels, trees, hill forts - everything covered in a thick fog. Such moments make me feel as if I had just won a jackpot. If that wasn't enough, a man dressed in a soutane appears in front of me. We converse about the fog, analogue photography, same acquaintances, he ends with a sentence: "maybe you would like to open an exhibition here in the chapel?". I have been to Kernavė many times but the wooden chapel had always been closed. The priest turns the key and what I see makes my jaw drop - old wooden lumbers dating several hundred years, wooden statues of saints silently stare at me. You are even asking whether I want to??? Of course Yes!!!
I really wanted to print and exhibit the pictures from Kernavė, but the time was tight, so I exhibited what I've already had. Seven prints titled 'When the Mist Covers the City' resemble and repeat the foggy morning in Kernavė, except the action takes place in Vilnius, the current capital of Lithuania. Exhibiting pictures in the chapel is slightly more complicated - it is definitely not a gallery with a pre-equipped exhibition structure. I didn't want to affect the lumbers too much, therefore several prints hang on cables and four of them are attached to the aluminium construction built on the floor. My works are quite heavy so I am happy to have thought of such representation of them.
I encourage all to visit Kenavė and the old wooden chapel, to sit quietly, to think and to dream. If you do so this summer - you will also see my photographs.
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