Youngunemployed. No longer ? (2010-2011-)
In 2010 Donatas Stankevičius took part in a workshop for young photographers, called “FotoLab”, the subject of which was exclusion. Donatas Stankevičius chose to depict young, yet unemployed people. He spread a quest for real models on a social network and soonstarted to get proposals to visit people and take pictures of them. During most of the meetings, silence was replacing the speech, of which the shutter clicks were the punctuation signs. The staticsquare images emphasize the status quo of the desperate situations, and the subtle proximity of photographer to his models does nottransgress the border of vulnerability. Numerous photographic workson sensible social issues traditionally are done in black and white,technically reducing the real-life views into dramatic imagery. Meanwhile, the colour in the series Young unemployed produces azone of comfort for the depicted and does not destroy their secretoptimism, which for young people is a key to continuing the strugglefor a better tomorrow.
A year later, in 2011, when the workswere about to be exhibited at Kaunas Photo festival, the photographer came up with the extension of the stories of the peopleportrayed. The initial portraits were accompanied by thecorrespondence with the former unemployed by email and social mediawith descriptions of the follow-up stories and images of the newlives of the heroes of the photo shoots. Some have traveled the world to find their job destinations – Africa, Netherlands, Singapore,etc. Others continued education, while in some cases, the answers never came…
Donatas Stankevičius (born 1984 in Kaunas) – the photographer of the young generation. Gradueated engineering studies, studied Graphics design at Kaunas school of Arts and Crafts. Focuses on social photography in most of his work. Preparing personal and taking part in a group exhibitions, organizing variety projects related with a social photography as well. Working in the Union of Lithuanian Art photographers also in the International photo festival Kaunas Photo.
Facing youth
September 14 – October 28, 2012
Mosteiro de Tibães
Rua do Mosteiro – Mire de Tibães
Braga, Portugal
