PAULIUS MAKAUSKAS

October 1, 2021 / November 3, 2021

New Seas

Paulius Makauskas, who is from Palanga, graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with audiovisual arts studies, worked as a cinematographic photographer and on several occasions in the field of advertising, participated in group reportage and creative photography exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. In 2020, the artist became the winner of one of the most prestigious photography competitions in the world, the International Photography Awards, in one of the main categories of analog photography. A total of more than 13,000 works from more than 120 countries were submitted to the competition. Paulius was among the top 13 applicants for the IPA 2020 Photographer of the Year award.

The author's "New Seas" photographic works reflect on the complicated and multi-layered problems of the climate crisis. The entire creative path of this series is analogical. The process is long, slow and meditative. The works are photographed on slides, with a large 4x5 format camera. Prints are made by hand, using a complex and rare reverse chromogenic method. "Timothy Morton calls climate change a hyper object. It is an incomprehensibly large object that extends through time and space. Known only in parts, but never as a whole at the same time. I realized that this pattern is echoed by microplastics. Barely visible (or completely invisible to the naked eye), but the particles are everywhere in the ocean. Like some synthetic, multi-colored plankton, a super-organism that wanders unnoticed. For a long time, I would even say obsessively watching the sea, I realized that the white crests of waves create an unfathomable, white-gray sheet in space and time. To reveal what is invisible - to me all that was left was to fill it with light" - says Paulius Makauskas about his starting points. The artist emphasizes that the series "New Seas" symbolizes not only changes in the seas, the ocean. A key question for him is how the unintended side effects of our way of life can become the basis for global action to create new and sustainable models. The exhibition project is financed by the Lithuanian Culture Council, Vilnius City Municipality, Klaipėda City Municipality.