Janina Sabaliauskaitė’s photography revolves around themes of sexuality, queer joy, pleasure and is grounded in activism. The presentation will focus on collaborative documentary practice, the importance of community organising and international connectivity and the assembling of a personal archive. Sharing her journey from self-exploratory photographic portraiture towards community-based projects, Sabaliauskaitė will discuss curating, teaching and empowering representation.
Janina Sabaliauskaitė is a Lithuanian born artist-photographer, independent curator, researcher and collaborator based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Her work looks at the history of feminism and LGBTQ+ visibility and addresses the issues of identity, gender, sexuality, disability and desire. In her practice, Sabaliauskaitė uses personal archives. Her photography is the result of close personal relationships, presenting moments of joy and intimacy, celebrating the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and encourages dialogue about the fight for human rights both within Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom.
Sabaliauskaitė had her first solo show at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Collection Space in 2022. She also curated in parallel the first major retrospective of Lithuanian artist-photographer Rimaldas Vikšraitis. Sabaliauskaitė co-produces together with Dovilė Lapinskaitė the ongoing research for Lesbian Zine Portraits, Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK. Since 2020, she is the co-creator and editor together with Laura Varžgalytė of LGBTQ+ printed art and media magazine Kreivės, Vilnius Queer festival, Lithuania. She is also an organiser of Sapfo Queer Feminist Festival, Lithuania. Since 2015, she has also been running a community darkroom, while both developing her own practise and sharing her analogue photography skills, focusing on teaching members of queer-feminist community especially. Currently Sabaliauskaitė is working on a monograph of Rimaldas Vikšraitis (Kerber-Verlag) and preparing for her first solo show at Drifts Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania (October, 2023).
