Street Art in the Baltic Region

What inspires your work? What mediums and forms of production do you typically use in the production of your work?

My street art projects are usually inspired by the local context and, in some cases, current events. With my art, I am aiming to express my own concerns and opinions on particular topics. For instance, Walls that Remember was inspired by walks in the old town of Vilnius and the desire to get people to remember and cherish the heritage we have. That of a flourishing Jewish community we lost. A significant part of the Lithuanian community is still struggling with accepting the fact that many Lithuanians did willingly take part in the Holocaust, and Walls that Remember was my way of talking about the things we lost. For my urban art, I mostly use stencils. However, I am also exploring new technologies and merging them with traditional art forms. For instance, two of my pieces were printed on walls by a robot from Estonia, and the most recent mural was actually painted by hand the entire way, instead of using stencils or other modern tools. The means of production aren't being dictated by the subject, but it does correlate in some cases. For instance, most (but not all) pieces of Walls that Remember were done with stencils in order to maintain a coherent style of all the murals.

For “Walls that Remember,” what was your process for finding the images and models used in your final products?

It all started with archives, both physical and digital. I was looking for pictures of the Vilnius' Jewish quarter from the 1920's and 1930's, and some of the best shots were found in Poland's digital archive. With a wide selection of photos to work with, I moved to selecting particular walls in the Jewish Quarter and picking the best image for every wall that was selected. Of course, the future murals had to be approved by every building's owners, and in some instances, several visualisations were prepared for a single wall, so the owners could pick their favorites. In all the cases, their favorites were also my favorites :). In Vilnius, all the people from the photographs were of unknown identity. A different approach was taken when the project expanded to other regions, mostly small towns that had large Jewish populations before WWII. In those towns, the local archives usually had photos of people with names and bios available. So we could add a story to every mural: a shohet, a sofer, a brave little girl from a local school etc. Every single mural was a unique experience.

In what ways did “Walls that Remember” change the way you view Vilnius?

The project expanded and deepened my view of the city. While working on the project, I gained a lot of new knowledge about my city and its history. I also got a much deeper perception of the Jewish culture and its impact on Vilnius and Lithuania in general. Now, I feel obliged to say that Lithuania suffered a tremendous loss because of the Holocaust, since the Jewish community was a large and integral part of Lithuanian culture.

More generally speaking, how political is street art in Vilnius?  

In some cases, it is political. Especially since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, Vilnius has multiple pieces of street art devoted to supporting Ukraine. One of them is actually mine :). But I wouldn't say street art is politicised in general. We have a wide variety of street art, and the pieces touch multiple topics. I think street art's essence is communicating a social message that touches the community, not something dictated by politicians - cause in that case, it would be more of an advertisement than art.

How do you view street art’s ability to reimagine cities and the meaning of urban spaces?