Les Photaumnales are partners of the Kaunas festival, a Lithuanian city two hours from Beauvais by plane.
A member of the European Community since 2004, Lithuania has a population of three million. History has long mistreated this Baltic tribe. Photography was only recognized here in the middle of the 20th century. Under Stalin, cameras were considered spy equipment.
The idea of ‘Lithuanian photography’ appeared in the 1970s and 80s, when Russian art critics began to take an interest in the work of Lithuanian photographers. The names Antanas Sutkus, Romualdas Rakauskas, Aleksandras Macijauskas, Romualdas Kuncius and Romualdas Požerskis were followed closely by the photographic press.
In 1973, during the first photography festivals held in Nida, the subjects were conformist: men, land, tradition, country markets, religious pilgrimages. Today, Lithuanian photography allows itself to be more conceptual, appearing in art galleries and photo festivals like Kaunas Photo.
Mindaugas Kavaliauskas, director of the festival, selected the work of seven photographers to give us an insight into Lithuanian photography: Antanas Sutkus, Vitas Luckus, Vytautas Stanionis (Father), Vytautas Stanionis (Son) , Klaudijus Driskius, Donatas Stankevicius and Mindaugas Ažušilis.
You can read more details regarding the photographers in the French version of Le Journal.
LT – a Tribe, Traditions, Trends
September 8 – November 4, 2012
Galerie Nationale de la Tapisserie
22 rue Saint-Pierre
60000 Beauvais
France
