2024 10 02 – 11 03

Exhibited at Photography gallery (Vasario 16-osios str. 11, Panevėžys)

Opening October 2, 5 p.m.

Portraits of Lithuanian and foreign artists, captured in the years 1993-2023

“It’s a common sense that humans are social creatures. Relationships with other people are important to them. I am not an exception. I have always been interested in other people, which is why I have been photographing them for so many years. Creative people seemed special and very interesting to me since childhood. For a long time I thought they were exceptional. Now I think that creators are at the same time ordinary creatures with everyday common worries and also extraodinary  because they are able to tell something new about the world. I am very interested in them.

I took me 30 years to create these portraits. There are both world celebrities and little-known artists in here. What connects these people and these images? For me, the „meeting” with what I photograph is essential. It is an indescribable feeling that something important is happening at this very moment, like approaching the invisible essence of things and the world. The greatest success is when the trace of that meeting remains in the photograph. I believe that these images are an example of this process.

The exhibition features gelatin silver prints (traditional black and white photographs). When I was starting as a photographer, it was the most accessible form of photography. I learned and loved the process. Although similar results can now be achieved with digital technology, it is very important for me to print each Image by hand. I appreciate being able to get exactly the look I’m after. It often takes a lot of time, which spent  with each shot helps me getting closer to what’s important and let go of the unnecessary.

I think these images can be interesting both as documents of time and as examples of photographic expression.“

Levas Žiriakovas

About the author

Levas Žiriakovas (b. 1974, Vilnius). In 1998 gained Bachelor’s degree at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater as the cinematograper. In 2008 obtained the qualifying degree as Master of Arts from Vilnius Academy of Arts. He has been taking pictures since 1993. Since 1998 participates in group exhibitions, since 2000 organizes his personal exhibitions. Lives and works in Vilnius.