Ugnė Žilytė | THREE YEARS IN A PERISCOPE

“Three Years in a Periscope” is a graphic art series by Ugnė Žilytė that explores a distanced gaze – when life is observed as if through a periscope or a keyhole. Suspended between light and shadow, proximity and withdrawal, the works create subtle images that invite viewers to question what they truly see and to ask what remains beyond the field of vision. Most of the pieces are created using intaglio techniques, while some are produced through aluminum lithography, a method rarely used in Lithuania.

A periscope (Gr. periskopeo – to look around) is an optical device that allows us to observe objects outside the direct field of vision. It consists of a tube with mirrors or prisms that reflect light. Light from the observed object reaches the mirror at the top, is reflected downward to a second mirror, and then directed into the observer’s eye. In this way, one can see images located above, around, or behind an obstacle.

Ugnė Žilytė: “When I still lived in an apartment building, I used to take my dog Plūdė for evening walks. After dark I would sometimes stop on a hill in front of our house and look into the neighbors’ windows. In the bright electric light, their lives unfolded like scenes from a silent film. I often could not understand what was really happening, but I could imagine and invent my own stories. Strangely, most windows were rarely covered with curtains, making it easy to become an invisible observer.

I began arranging the first compositions when the war started. Events in the world coincided with changes in my personal life. The threat of war and uncertainty about the future created a sense of anxiety and pushed me toward change. A year later I started making etchings. The first ones were created in secret, only for myself. Soon I realized that this way of looking had become the perspective for the entire cycle of prints.

Sometimes it feels as if I do not fully participate in the important events of my life but observe them from a distance. For this cycle I chose a viewpoint similar to looking through a keyhole. I decided to keep a safe distance and become a passive observer – watching from afar, behind an obstacle, behind the “fourth wall.” This distance allows me to cross physical and social boundaries and to emphasize secrecy, invisible presence, indirect experience, and perhaps even loneliness. At the same time, it draws attention to the act of observation itself.

Of course, seeing from only one position narrows our understanding and can trap us in subjectivity. Yet we experience this every day, even with the people closest to us, – it is not necessary to stand on the other side of a periscope. I would like viewers to question whether they see only what is directly in front of them – and perhaps ask: what is really happening there?”

Ugnė Žilytė was born in 1979 in Vilnius. In 1997 she graduated from the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts with a specialization in graphics. She studied printmaking at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, receiving a Master’s degree in 2004. She teaches printmaking and drawing at the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts and worked for six years as the designer of the cultural weekly Literatūra ir Menas. She is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association and the Secret Drawing Society. Since 2001 she has participated in exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad and is a laureate of printmaking and art competitions. She created the print cycle The Creation of the World – a project realized in stone slabs in 2025 at St. Joseph’s Church in Vilnius. She has also designed bookplates, postage stamps, illustrated books, and paints. Her primary artistic practice is the creation of print cycles using intaglio techniques.

Organizer: Pamėnkalnio Gallery.

Financed by: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Lithuanian Artists’ Association.