Elena Antanavičiūtė ^{Emerging artist}

Artist's country of origin: Lithuania

A large part of her works are self-portraits. She exploits her image not because of narcissism but because of possibility to speak through it. Unlike people posing for selfies, she is not trying to portray herself as attractive, sexy, ready to communicate with others. In a sense, her works are diaries (especially drawings). These ‘ugly’ self-portraits are, on one hand, are therapy, an effort to reconcile with her own body. On the other hand, her works are masochistic self-punishment. She participated in several group exhibitions. In 2019, she completed undergraduate painting program at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

My painting series The Body developed from self-portraits and diary-like drawings. On one hand, The Body is about beauty standards, and it has been influenced by feminist discourse. On the other hand, artist finds interesting forms and landscapes while painting her body. She is interested not only in body parts that are often seen in the media. She also paints body parts that are unrecognizable, sometimes less exploited in the media, such as the wrinkles in finger joint. The relationship with body is multifaceted and influenced by life environment and the theme is very personal and universal at the same time.