On May 28, the Baltic humanist photography exhibition “Human Baltic” opened at Spiral Gallery in Tokyo, the Lithuanian Culture Ministry writes in a press release. The exhibition was opened by the main curator Agnė Narušytė and producer Sergej Grigorjev (Lithuania), curators Toomas Järvet, Kristel Aimee Laur (Estonia), and Iveta Gabalina (Latvia).
The exhibition featured more than 120 works from the golden fund of Baltic humanistic photography, dating from the 1960s to the 1990s. The selected works reveal the everyday life, challenges, and spirit of the people of the Baltic states during the Soviet occupation.
The exhibition presented the works of 15 legendary Baltic photographers, including Kalju Suur (Estonia), Māra Brašmane (Latvia), and Romualdas Požerskis (Lithuania), among others.
The “Human Baltic” exhibition looked at the untold, true stories of people who lived during the Soviet era. Working under strict state censorship and in the face of hostility to their worldview, Baltic humanist photographers used visual metaphors and hidden messages to overcome and challenge the constraints.
The multifaceted exhibition also included an interactive app dedicated to the Baltic Way, which allowed visitors to learn about this decisive event in the Baltic states’ peaceful struggle for freedom.
On May 30, a conversation between the curators of the exhibition and Japanese photography scholars took place under the title “The Dual Language of Photography”, and on June 4, an auction was held in support of refugees from Ukraine in Japan.
The exhibition was open until June 9.
