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At 6 p.m., Thursday, January 15, the National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) holds a public discussion The Visualization of History in Photography focused on the aspects of photography establishing the medium as a shaping force of our relationship with history and collective memory. The talk, moderated by the art critic Agnė Narušytė, will offer the insights on the matter by the photographers Georgs Avetisjans, Tadas Kazakevičius and Claudia Heinermann.

The discussion accompanies the NGA exhibition by Claudia Heinermann "Siberian Exiles - Baltic Testimonies of Soviet Repression” and invites to contemplate its themes within a broader context of photography. 

 Witness-bearing or question-posing? Photography in the field of traumatic memory 

The participants of the talk will explore the ways in which the photographic images of war, genocide, violence and loss can transcend the limits of reporting, and besides witnessing the events, stimulate questions to be pondered upon. The art critic Agnė Narušytė will moderate the efforts of the assembly of documentary photography artists to navigate their joint reflections towards answers.  

The impact of the concepts of history on visual interpretations of traumatic memory will emerge among the focuses of the discussion, as well as no less trying dilemmas of historic truth faced by the artist photographers who delve into the mysteries of the collective memory. 

The complexities of history in visual photographic reflections from a variety of contexts 

The shared field of historic narrative emerging in the discussion will profit from a rather diverse creative experience by the guest photographers. The Latvian artist Georgs Avetisjans is a visual storyteller interested in multi-layered, research-based narratives dealing with contemporary issues, which he tends to examine in terms of history and ethnography. In his practice, he relies on poetic imagery and metaphor, and his authentic visual strategies to poise his subject matter between reality and fiction. 

Tadas Kazakevičius represents Lithuanian documentary photography, predominantly of the humanist trend of candid portraits. Currently he works intensely on several series, dedicated to portraits in industrial settings, the theme of religious faith and that of the deportations to Siberia. 

The latter them of the deportations to Siberia is explored also by Claudia Heinermann, a German-born artist, who lives and works in the Netherlands. The "Siberian Exiles - Baltic Testimonies of Soviet Repression”, currently on view at the Lithuanian National Gallery of Art of the LNMA, is a series of photographs that took the artist seven years to produce. Claudia Heinermann dedicates herself to the long-term documentary projects, dealing with the contemporary historic issues such as the genocide and the aftermath of war. Her photographic projects, in the field of history, have taken the artist to Bosnia, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, Germany, and Rwanda.

At 12:00 a.m. Sunday, January 25, Claudia Heinermann will give a tour of the exhibition “Siberian Exiles. Baltic Testimonies of Soviet Repression”, introducing, in greater detail, into her long-term creative explorations. The discussion and the tour are free of charge and will be conducted in English. No booking required. 

 

Organizer: LNMA National Gallery of Art

Initiator and coordinator: Ieva Mazūraitė-Novickienė

The project is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania

Partners:  Goethe-Institut in Lithuania, The Netherlands Embassy to Lithuania

Photographing and/or filming may take place during the events