In her artist talk, Ieva Baltaduonytė will present her work and talk about her ongoing photographic series ‘Uprooted’ (2022–). In ‘Uprooted’, the author thoughtfully engages with the complex ripple–effects of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Working with Ukrainian female refugees residing in Lithuania and using a humanistic style of photography in an exploratory way, she brings to light the unphotographable trauma of forced displacement and war–related PTSD (Post–traumatic stress disorder).
UPROOTED (2022-ongoing)
On February 24, 2022, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, triggering the largest civilian refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. To date, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are over 8 million Refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe and an estimated 8 million others had been displaced within the country. While this highly mediatized war has already had a devastating impact on the everyday lives of Ukrainians, it will also result in profound and long-lasting psychological damage to those directly affected, as well as impacting on future generations. Statistically, at least 1 in 10 resettled refugees suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the case of war, one-third of refugees are likely to experience PTSD. Among the symptoms of PTSD are acute anxiety, panic attacks, intrusive memories and thoughts, recurrent nightmares. People will often feel fear and anger, go through stages of grief, confusion and dissociation, and experience highly realistic flashbacks of the scenes that caused the trauma. Women and children comprise ninety percent of the Ukrainian refugee population. Among refugees, children are the most vulnerable, with separation anxiety occurring in up to 70% of them. Nearly two-thirds of Ukrainian children have been forced to leave their homes. The subjects photographed are women and teenager girls who have fled the war and now reside in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Ieva Baltaduonytė (b. 1988 in Kaunas, Lithuania) is a lens based artist and graduate of the Photography BA programme at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Informed by her own personal experience of displacement, her artistic practice engages with topics and issues relating to migratory culture. Central to her work are the psychological consequences of migration, such as displacement trauma, as well as the concepts home, identity and the in-between state. After spending seventeen years living in Dublin, Ireland, Ieva has recently returned to her native Lithuania, where she is currently based. Ieva has showcased her work through both solo exhibitions and participation in various group exhibitions across multiple countries, including Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland, France, Israel, and Denmark.
