The borderline states of the human psyche – a theme much loved by photographers. Nursing homes, prisons, the homeless, people struggling with addiction – these are intriguing, frightening, and shocking stories. But behind all of them stands a human being. In 1997, while photographing the Jotainiai psychoneurological care home, located in the Zavišos manor and still referred to at the time as the “madhouse,” I often asked myself the question: “Who are they?” As I photographed these people, I saw not only their disabilities but also their joy at being happy. It is we, looking from the outside, who perceive their actions as foolish or irrational. But they see everything in their own way. Looking at them, I would reflect on how fragile we all are. How vulnerable – both physically and morally. You can never know whether, in the face of some misfortune, someone close to you won’t end up behind these walls among these (un)fortunate ones – or even yourself. As Mikhail Bulgakov’s character Woland once said: “You cannot be sure of tomorrow – because you do not control it...”
Algimantas Aleksandravičius (b. 1960, Klaipėda) was granted the National Culture and Art Prize in 2011, the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) conferred on him the name of Photo Artist (AFIAP) in 1996, and he received The Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau in 2008. In 2007, he was given the Medal of the Order for Merits to Lithuania, Golden Star (LATGA Award) and the honorary medal Bring Your Light and Believe (Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Award). In 2003, he was recognized as the Best Portraitist of Europe (Fujifilm Euro Press 2003 main prize) and in 2011 as the best portraitist in the Baltic States. He is a four-times recipient of the Lithuanian Press Photo Golden Frame Award, and in 2013 he received the Balys Buračas Art Prize and in 2014 the Lithuanian Photographers Association Prize.
He has been a member of the Lithuanian Photographers Association since 1988, an honorary member since 2011, and the status of Artist was granted to him in 2005.
He has participated in more than 200 exhibitions since 1987, both in Lithuania and abroad. He has curated many exhibitions and edited publications such as Lithuanian Photography: Today and Yesterday, while also being the author of 16 of his own personal albums.
His works are in the collections of the Lithuanian Art Museum, the MO museum and in private collections in Lithuania and abroad.
He lives and works in Vilnius.
Photo by Milda Kiaušaitė
