We are all moving every day. In cars, buses, trolleybuses, bicycles, and on foot. We move everywhere – to work, to home, but sometimes we also have the need to walk and ride aimlessly, mindlessly.
Walking seems to me to be the most important and the most valuable. I walk, observe, capture and absorb my surroundings. For me, walking is often about the streets that flow with my blood and with the blood of others, that I breathe into and the people who live in this city breathe into. For this project, I have selected people who are connected to me and art/creativity – I asked them to tell me the name of the first street in Vilnius that popped into their head. I then captured the streets on film.
I noticed that in many cases, those who have developed a strong connection to the city, who have lived there for a long time, choose a street that is not completely random – they choose a street that is more meaningful to them and that is ingrained in them, where they have lived, where they studied, where a lot has happened, where they have lived and breathed for so long. That is why those streets are more special to me, because they are no longer random, but personal. These streets seem like a personal memory, an opening to the other.
About the artist:
Emilija Zakarauskaitė
A wanderer of Vilnius, conspecting memories and observing, capturing, trying to explore its streets. Sometimes catching and gathering the wind and the dynamics of the city. Having started her artistic path in 2021 at the Graphic Arts Department of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, she is now exploring the trails of Photography and Media Art studies.
Personal website: konspektuojanti.com [1] / instagram.com/konspektuojanti.prisiminimus [2]
Emilija Zakarauskaitė
“Streets of Vilnius”
2024 03 13-03 30
VAA exposition space Kreatoriumas
Maironio str. 6, II inner yard, Vilnius
Opening 03 13, 18:00h
Gallery working hours: I-V 12-18h, VI 12-16h
Photography: Rapolas Grinčelaitis