Elena Krukonytė’s Personal Exhibition Opening: “People of My Age”
Elena Krukonytė’s personal exhibition, “People of My Age,” will open at VMU Art Gallery “101” (Muitinės g. 7, Kaunas) on March 21st at 6:00 p.m. The exhibition was previously showcased at the Vilnius Photography Gallery last year (2023).
Photographer Elena Krukonytė was born in 1998, and this project was inspired by her own reflections on time. Raising existential question — why am I who I am? — through collaborative process with people of her age together they reflected on the past and how they grasp themselves in the present time and space. 20 photographs were taken in locations chosen individually by every subject while reflecting on what contributed to the formation of their personality. Every photograph has a text created from talks to each person. Photographed people have their own spheres of activities, in which they have prospects. They are from Lithuanian sociocultural groups creating the current reality.
What connects these people? Inevitably, the technology they grew up with allows for new forms of self-expression. Almost each of them have their own extention of personality through social media accounts. They express themselves to global audiences and behold the massive surge of data of which fragments they build their own worlds. Therefore, this is the first generation of Lithuanians who go abroad to study en masse. After talking with the people photographed in this project who study at foreign universities – many of them consider Lithuania their home, to which they plan to return. These young people are united by the memory of a young Lithuania that had just regained its independence. The ideas, music, popular culture, and style trends of that time shaped young people’s national Lithuanian and aesthetic perception of the era (Krukonytė analyzes this topic in more detail in the online archive of Lithuanian visual culture of the 1990s and early 2000s, in the Instagram account @90s_Lithuania).
Living in both the digital and physical realities, this generation is characterized by its modernity, rooted in technological principles, while also paying respect to tradition, nature, and history. E. Krukonytė observes that her and her peers’ lives are intertwined: “We are connected by the internet, broading our perspective on the world and ourselves; we are bonded by memories of a youthful Lithuania, fostering national unity; we are united by the pursuit of understanding the world and finding meaning in our existence. As individuals of the same life stage, we recognize our responsibility in constructing our own lives and nurturing the world around us.”
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Lithuanian Photographers Association and funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Exhibition will last until April 15th.
Gallery working hours: Mon–Fri 10 AM – 6 PM
The event will be photographed and/or filmed; therefore, please note that you might be featured in photos or videos which can be published in various media.
