Bless you? II part, 2017

Video performance (33 min.)

NB! The artwork does not have fixed measurements

Location: Menu spaustuve, Vilnius, Lithuania. 2017 m.

The artist´s comment on the artwork:

“In 2014 I participated in a fitness contest in Lithuania. Before the contest I had a special diet for 4 months and hard workouts in the gym. My body transformed to a different form. I was too skinny but at the same time muscular. That period was really intense for me. But after the contest I started to see my body in different way. Fitness as sports is for me like making a sculpture, you can do everything with your body, but at the same time it can talk about many problems in your life. Diets, beauty, complexes, social life, fear, self-confidence, body temporality, etc.

So, I think, this work is like self-therapy, in those 33 minutes I felt everything that I needed to feel and know so that I ultimately understood myself. After that I finally felt relief and freedom. In this performance my body it’s almost naked, but my mind is open to myself and others… So as being a sportswoman, I hyperbolize the muscles, transform my body to create a contrast between a natural and fake body. With this performance I strongly criticize the body of fake “monster” – short-sighted goal to increase your self-esteem together with muscles, while contaminating, damaging your own body.

You might wonder what is the project´s connection to MyEstonia? competition. I am from Lithuania, so Estonia for me is a neighbour, brother or sister, we have similar history. My piece of art is about body transformation. The three countries of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, made from the same clay, have gone through substantial transformations in the course of history, along the lines of what´s inside this artwork.”