In the exhibition “Threads” a young generation artist Karolina Ūla Valentaitė deepens her gaze into the connections between herself, her mother, and nature. These three elements, intertwining and connecting, form a seamless ecosystem in which it is impossible to separate the beginning from the end. Just as strands of forest mushroom mycelium intertwine between different plants, the works connect family stories, relationships, and deep-rooted folkloric and mythological motifs.
In this exhibition, the relationship with the mother acquires a metaphor of a biological vein – a strong symbol of the hereditary connection with nature. This personal and archaic connection becomes the basis for exploring a deeper being in a world of technology and consumerism. At the same time, the question is raised: to what extent does a person remain instinctive, intuitive, and biologically connected to nature – and to what extent is he an individual who is moving away from nature?
In seeking answers to these questions, the works reveal the complexity of the relationship between humans and nature. This relationship becomes the main thread that helps not only to understand oneself, one’s environment, and relationships with loved ones, but also to discover new ways to coexist with nature in a technological world.
Karolina Ūla Valentaitė (b. 1996) is an artist working in the interdisciplinary field of art, creating in the fields of video, text, performance, and visual arts. In 2023, she graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a degree in Contemporary Sculpture. In her work, she explores ritual ceremonies, queer culture, archaism, the human relationship with plants, and kinship ties. Her work focuses on issues of memory, identity, and ecology. These themes overlap, gradually becoming the ecology of memory, the ecology of identity, and the memory of identity.
The exhibition is part of Meno Parkas Gallery‘s project „Ether. 2024“. The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
