Lolita Tučinskaitė

Artist is based in: Lithuania

I am Lolita Tučinskaitė I graduated from the VAA’s Bachelor’s degree in Textile Art and Design, where I studied the subject of the essence of man’s existence as a human being, man’s place in the world, and the issues of the ecosystem, with an emphasis on the problem of cutting trees. My personal experiences lead to my choice of research and a unique approach to ecology and living in harmony with nature, as I have been living with cancer for seven years. I graduated with a Master’s degree in 2022.

During my bachelor’s project I realised that I wanted to go deeper into the natural glow of luminescent living organisms, a direction that was prompted by a live observation of glowing jonvabalas. I must mention that, strange as it may seem, luminescent organisms are extremely bright non-natural colours.

As a result, one of the most important parts of my current artistic project is the microalgae Porphyridium purpureum and Chlorella vulgaris. I chose these microalgae because of their ability to be the most active in photosynthesis (compared to the others) and because they are a versatile organism that not only performs photosynthesis, but is also widely used for biofuel production. It is important to note that the limits of microalgae’s potential are still not yet fully explored.

For example, astro-biologists are considering in their studies that microalgae could be used as photo bioreactors for oxygen and food production on space bases – because microalgae offer a higher yield index, biomass productivity and ease of operation, and consume incomparably less water than other alternatives. As you have probably already realised, Textiles in my art-design project are indirect and atypical, but these days it is not so easy to surprise everyone with innovative solutions, textile materials can now be created even from fungal spores, but my object is a bit different

its texture, texture and tactility are felt visually through seeing and understanding, not through direct touch, which is in line with the underlying theme of my work, which focuses on the experiential memories of human experiences of nature, which we can’t bring back, or touch, or re-experience, but which we can see in our memories. In this thematic field I am developing the question of what is more "real" what we can touch and understand with logical thinking, or what we can only perceive with the emotional intellect and through personal experiences.