Time passes, with our presence or without. Entering someone’s space means stepping into their time.
Memories can be accessed through sound, scent, taste, through an image or a word. They can be unlocked with ease, while also carrying a blur of imagination.
Touching a memory of another, seeing through the patterns of one’s childhood. Stepping inside a mind that recalls shades and movements. Some arrive vivid, while others feel so light they could drift away with the autumn breeze. Suddenly they lift, migrating like bees in a search of rest.
We look around through our memory. We try to store it: in river banks, fabrics, sequences, layers of white on white, grey on grey. But does moulding help us hold on? Can our mind receive without leaving an imprint?
To remember is to keep moving. Memory pathways are layered, intimate, fleeting, sharp, obscure, twisted. Where does mine end and yours begin? How do I share what you were not there to witness? How do I take you to the space where we depend on shimmering, not facts?
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The Tales We Tell is an exhibition by Valentina Černiauskaitė, accompanied by a text written by Helen Korpak and curated by Kamilla Kūna. The exhibition explores memory and how our relationship with memory frames the ways we see the world. It consists of a series of drawings, 35mm slide projection, text, a scent-emitting clay object, and plaster figures. The Tales We Tell will be on view at Galleria Loisti, Helsinki from 2 to 15 October 2025. The exhibition is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and supported by the Lithuanian Culture Institute. Exhibition graphic designer: Juozapas Švelnys.
Valentina Černiauskaitė (born in Kaunas, Lithuania) is visual artist and storyteller working at the intersections of contemporary art, publishing, and writing. Through the exploration of time, memory, change, communication and fragility, her work looks into the nature of storytelling and ways in which our perception is shaped. She frequently uses photography, printed matter, drawing, textile and writing to reflect on the connections, frictions and relationships between time, space, humans and the natural world. Her practice is driven by observing and responding to the rhythms beyond the human scale and navigating tensions between vulnerability and control. Černiauskaitė holds a BA in Graphic Art from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with an exchange year at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. She currently lives and works in Helsinki.
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