Borderliners

Borderliners

Ffotogallery presents Borderliners, featuring two of the most famous Lithuanian photographers: Aleksandras Macijauskas (b. 1938) and Rimaldas Vikšraitis (b. 1954), winner of the prestigious Discovery Award at Rencontres d’Arles 2009. Vikšraitis acknowledges Macijauskas as his teacher and a formative influence on his artistic career.

Between 1969 and 1987 Macijauskas created the groundbreaking photographic series Rural Markets, with a stylistic approach that combined early avant-garde principles, such as the use of diagonal angles and geometric forms, with close-up views of his subjects. Vikšraitis’ Grimaces of the Weary Village is the latest in a series of visual narratives in which the artist captures a way of life that is fast disappearing.

The social backdrop to these powerful images is the decline of Lithuanian village life since the break-up of the Soviet Union and the attendant disintegration of the local farming system. Although most of the people captured in these photographs have gone, their stories keep repeating themselves – the same tale with different characters and nuances, chronicling the fate of people who fail to adapt to the situation, both in the Soviet era and now.

Exhibition developed in partnership with the Lithuanian Photographers Association, Kaunas, with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania.