Indrė Šerpytytė @ The Photographers Gallery
9 February - 18 April, 2010. This Spring Print Sales at the Photographers Gallery are showcasing up and coming photographer Indrė Šerpytytė. Her work is the result of a thoughtful investigation into the political history of the Cold War and its catastrophic consequences. Although only a recent graduate, Šerpytytė has won many awards, and is already featured in important international collections. According to the Photographers' Gallery, "she is one to watch for the future. "
Indrė Šerpytytė tells that her work stems from her own displacement: „Growing up in a different country from where you were born and lived as a child allows you to view the history of your own country with a more critical eye. The sense of never truly belonging has made me more determined to explore my own roots. [...] Through my images I attempt to reconstruct my inherited memory in an attempt to make past more tangible.“
Her most recent work is related to the armed anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania in 1944-1953, so called war after war. After Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets for the second time in 1944, thousands of men gathered in the forests in the hope that they should not stay there for too long – till the decisions of the Peace Conference implementing the principle of self-determination of the nations were made. Unfortunately their expectations did not come true and for nine years, from 1944 to 1953, Lithuania fought its war alone.
Indrė Šerpytytė invokes the memory of these historical events by visiting actual sites and taking photographs of the real forests of the so called ‚forest brothers‘ and on the other hand, real former houses of NKVD-NKGB-MVD-MGB Soviet forces struggling against the partisan movement. Later the artist ‚translates‘ them into photographic and sculpted images. According to Indrė, we associate homes with a feeling of security and safety, yet these once familiar environments were turned into prisons and places of torture. „And forests became a hiding place providing a home and freedom, but in the end death." says the artist. "In my work buildings and forests are inscribed with loss. The houses become dead houses, completely sealed, that contain the memories inside them. The forests stand in for absent memory; they are placeless and disclose nothing to the viewer.“
Indrė Šerpytytė was born in Lithuania in 1983. She received her BA Hons Editorial Photography at the University of Brighton, and MA from Royal College of Art, in London, where she lives now. In 2009, she was awarded the Hoopers Gallery and Metro Imaging prizes for “1944 – 1991” series. The works has also been acquired by the Victoria and Albert museum for their photography collection. Previously she was awarded the prestigious Jerwood award for “A State of Silence” series. Her work has been published in Portfolio, Hotshoe and The British Journal of Photography. Šerpytytė has been exhibiting in various galleries in the United Kingdom.
The exhibition is open from 9 February to 18 April.
The Photographers' Gallery, 16 - 18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW.
Opening times
Mon: Closed
Tue, Wed, Sat: 11.00 - 18.00
Thu & Fri: 11.00 - 20.00
Sun: 12.00 – 18.00
Print Sales opening times
Tue - Sat: 11.00 - 18.00
Sun & Mon: Closed
Contact Photographers' Gallery
Tel: 0845 262 1618 Email: info@photonet.org.uk
Fax: +44 (0)20 7734 2884
