Gretė Ona Tvarkūnaitė
Regione nubibus

In the 20th century, Lithuania had many faces: a period of independent statehood, periods of Nazi and Soviet occupation, and parts of modern Lithuania that also belonged to Poland. After declaring independence from the Soviet Union, the euphoria of a new beginning and freedom in Lithuania was soon replaced by the difficulties of economic and ideological transition. There was a pervasive feeling of being on the periphery, of the unknown, of looking to the West and struggling to reflect what was happening around. Concepts such as the state, democracy, identity, and culture were being redefined. People's heads, stomachs, and wardrobes were being filled with little-known or unknown things.

Using photography, video, audio, archival material, and written narratives, as well as people's experiences, dreams, and surrounding symbols, the project "Regio Nubium" explores the most vivid imprints left by the political transformation from communism to neoliberal capitalism. It establishes a dialogue about the human condition at the turn of the ages and the changes that accompany it. The so-called Stalin pipe of the Šalčininkai district and the satellite city of Visaginas embody social changes and the problems of migration and state borders, the promise and fragility of technological progress, the fragmentation of particles, and the transgression of personal and social memory-related internal processes.

Globally, it is a cross-section and a metaphor for the entire transformation of the post-Soviet bloc, burdened with a raw past. Locally, it serves as a visual bridge between marginalized communities and the rest of Lithuania's experience, allowing us to understand why the hopes of that time have not yet been fulfilled and how far we've come nonetheless.