New exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art of the LNMA invite to explore the links between landscapes and memory

At 6 pm 7 November the National Gallery of Art of the LNMA opens two new events, Shadows Leave Traces, an international exhibition on the memory and imagination of the Northen landscape, and Claudia Heinermann’s photography exhibit Siberian Exiles. Baltic Testimonies of Soviet Repression. 

“Nowadays, we perceive the Northen countries as our close allies with whom we share memories and the determination to ward off common threats. This kinship emerges also in the new exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art of the LNMA, which incite to rethink our relationship with the memory and the landscapes that shape it. The exhibition Shadows Leave Traces enlightens the viewer on the culture of the Sámi, Norway and Finland. It evokes memories of the Lithuanian travellers led to the Arctic by their thirst of knowledge – and of the deportees torn apart from their homeland by force. The sufferings of our compatriots in Siberia are also the subject matter of Claudia Heinermann’s photographic narrative. Both events inspire to meditate on the power of memory in the nation’s struggle for survival, the ability to create and cherish its culture even under the most hostile conditions,” Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, director general of the LNMA invites to see the exhibitions.  

“A better understanding of the contemporary world depends also on a constant verification of our historical memory; we should engage in a critical dialogue with it, expand our field of vision and consider a variety of contexts. The parallels drawn between the Northen and Baltic experiences and visions at the exhibition opening at the National Gallery of Art is a unique opportunity to encounter some previously unseen artwork from contemporary artists and to revisit the legacy from the 20th century. It is a new step forward the artistic exchange takes in this region, and you are invited to become active witnesses of this process,” says Dr Lolita Jablonskienė, director of the National Gallery of Art. 

The traces of artists, naturalists, travellers and deportees in the Northern landscape 

The exhibition Shadows Leave Traces invites to focus on the history and the present of the Northern, mostly Arctic, region. The exhibition sets the stage for the first-time exchange between the works of art, documentary and archival materials of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian polar expeditions and the artwork by the Sámi, Finnish and Norwegian artists. Collectively, they present the image of the North as a place where the sense of home, cultural tensions and the preservation of identity are woven together. 

“We hope that this dialogue in reflection on our links in the present-day context of postcolonialism, changing climate, and the geopolitical competition will enhance the relevance of our cultural ties with the Northern region,” Kotryna Markevičiūtė and Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė, co-curators of the exhibition, share their expectations. 

The North has left a deep imprint on the culture of Lithuania and the entire Baltic region. Artists, travellers, naturalists, and thinkers have journeyed to the Arctic, driven by curiosity and a search for identity. At the same time, centuries of Russian imperialist policy involved the inhabitants of our region into the colonization of the North. Particularly painful are the testimonies of Soviet repressions – deportations, imprisonments, forced labour, and military service in the Far North.

The exhibition features the artwork by 50 artists, among them, both, the classics and contemporary figures, such as Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, Kristjan Raud, Kalervo Palsa, Viktorija Daniliauskaitė, Juozas Kazlauskas, A K Dolven, Kaljo Põllu, Outi Pieski, Marja Helander, Ruth Maclennan to mention some of them. On display are also works created particularly for this event. Ignas Krunglevičius, contemporary Oslo-based artist, will present his video Surrogates. Taking inspiration from his mother’s memoirs of her childhood in deportation, he explores the non-linear ways of passing memories from generation to generation. The work has been shot in Lithuania and the Arctic of Norway. The Lithuanian artist Rūta Spelskytė will present her new sculpture piece inspired by her voyage to Svaldbard, the north-most Norwegian archipelago. 

Photography exhibition as a testimony of the Baltic countries’ citizens of Soviet repression 

Siberian Exiles, a concurrently opening exhibition by the artist of documentary photography Claudia Heinermann, tells the story of postwar exile of the Baltic citizens, tracing its identity shaping effect on the region. Germany-born, the Netherlands-based photographer explores the themes of military conflicts, genocides and their traumatising effect left on societies and individuals. She has been working for seven years on a photographic series – a narrative of the oppression of the Baltic countries under the Soviet Union. In the exhibition, eyewitnesses tell of the deportation of women and children, of the life in the Gulag camps, the organised resistance against the Soviet occupier, and the beginning of the Cold War. The artist herself had followed in the footsteps of the deported Balts through the former Soviet Union, and her resulting work merges the eyewitnesses’ photographic portraits and testimonials with pictures of everyday life, interiors, still lifes, and landscapes. The materials gathered from private photo albums and historical archives add deeper and enriching layers of memory to her pictorial narratives.  

‘No one has ever been convicted of the crimes against humanity the Soviets committed. This was openly discussed for the first time after the Soviet Union’s dissolution. However, in Putin’s russia, Stalin’s past is again being brushed under the carpet. That is why it is so important to me to preserve the stories which were hidden from us behind the Iron Curtain, in order to contribute to a correct historiography,’ says the photographer. 

The opening of the exhibitions will be accompanied by events inviting to take a closer look at the North 

A press conference will be held on the opening day, at 11 am 7 November, attended by the head of the National Gallery of Art of the LNMA, Dr Lolita Jablonskienė, exhibition curators Kotryna Markevičiūtė, Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė, Dr Ieva Mazūraitė-Novickienė, artist Ignas Krunglevičius, photographer Claudia Heinermann. 

Saturday, 8 November: 

At 3 pm –  tour of the Siberian Exiles with the artist photographer Claudia Heinermann 

At 5 pm  –  screening of A Forest Tale, 2021 and All the Tears in the Sea, 2024–2025 by Ruth Maclennan working from London and North Scotland and a meeting with  the artist. Shot on different locations, the environs of russian Archangelsk and Svalbard, Norwegian archipelago, the films show the artist’s consistent engagement with the Arctic region and its communities. With her focus on people and landscape,  Maclennan records the irreversible shifts of the ecosystems, caused by the destructive consequences on the environmental crisis and geopolitical tensions, including the massive scale russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Sunday, 9 November:

At noon – tour of the Shadows Leave Traces guided by the curator Kotryna Markevičiūtė 

At 2 pm – tour of the Shadows Leave Traces guided by the curator Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė 

Regular visitor ticket includes events, yet please prebook at: https://forms.office.com/e/4DaiVEfvEm

Exhibitions will run through 8 February, 2026 

Exhibition Shadows Leave Traces 

Curators: Kotryna Markevičiūtė, Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė

Architect Povilas Marozas

Graphic designer Ugnė Balčiūnaitė

Coordinator Giedrius Gulbinas

Producing architect Mindaugas Reklaitis

Audiovisual technician Vytas Narbutas

Copyeditor Audra Kairienė

Translators: Aušra Simanavičiūtė, Emilija Ferdmanaitė

 

Organiser: National Gallery of Art / Lithuanian National Museum of Art

Project funded by: Culture Ministry of the Republic of Lithuania

Sponsors: UAB Propeller, Exterus. Fundermax, OCA, Embassy of Finland in Lithuania, Royal Norwegian Embassy

Media partners: LRT, JCDecaux Lietuva

Exhibition Siberian Exiles. Baltic Testimonies of Soviet Repression. 

Curators: Frits Gierstberg, Ieva Mazūraitė-Novickienė 

Architect: Mindaugas Reklaitis 

Graphic design: Violeta Boskaitė 

Translator: Antanas Gailius 

 

Project is financed by Culture Ministry of the Republic of Lithuania 

Supported by Goethe Institut Litauen, 

The Netherlands Embassy to Lithuania, 

Exterus.Fundermax