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People of My Age, Ongoing project, 2020


People of my age were born between 1995 and 2001. I was born in 1998, in Vilnius, Lithuania. The creation of this project was inspired by my own reflections on time. Raising existential question — why am I who I am? — I searched for answers through looking at peers.

20 photographs were taken in locations chosen individually by every subject while reflecting on what contributed to the formation of their personality. Every photograph has a text created from talks to each person.

Photographed people have their own spheres of activities, in which they have prospects. They are from Lithuanian sociocultural groups creating the current reality.

What unites these people? Inevitably, technology that we grew up with allowing new forms of self-expression. Almost each of us have our own extention of personality through social media accounts. We express ourselves to global audiences and behold the massive surge of data of which fragments we build our own worlds.

We are also connected by the memory of young free Lithuania, a country that had just regained its independence in 1990. The popular culture consumed as we were children formed our understanding of the world that surrounds us. TV programmes, magazines and music gave us a hedonistic idea that we can all be connected and enjoy this connection through consumed information. Meanwhile, freedom of speech implied an ambition to become “more western” and a hope of a “better tomorrow”. This topic is analysed in more detail online. I collect Lithuanian visual culture artefacts of 90s-00s on Instagram account @90s_lithuania. The content I upload has an element of nostalgia which cause equivocal feelings of comfort and insatiability. And the nature of the social media platform lets us to connect through memorobilia.

I subconsciously feel a sense of commonality. We are connected through internet and united by the memory of young Lithuania, freedom, the desire to explore the world and make sense of our existence. As we go through the same stage of life, we realise that we are becoming adults with a responsibility for our lives and the world.