Vėl Namie 1992

Curator: Oh, this painting is rather unsettling, isn’t it? A Lithuanian work of art by Šarūnas Sauka from 1992, called Vėl Namie. The medium is oil paint. Editor: My first reaction is that the unsettling nature comes from a deeply internal place; it has a claustrophobic feel. And are those... are those animals covering the figures? It feels surreal. Curator: Indeed. I find the work incredibly unsettling, speaking to collective trauma perhaps? Sauka often engages with themes of alienation and the absurd, a feeling reflected in the grotesque imagery. He paints people realistically with this strangeness overlaid. The animals feel symbolic, maybe referencing a loss of control or a feeling of being overwhelmed by external forces? Editor: Given that 1992 marks Lithuania's re-establishment of independence after Soviet occupation, I am reading those swarming animals – are those mice or rats? – as a metaphor for insidious oppression. The figures look vacant, as if weighed down by trauma, surrounded by these emblems of something insidious and inescapable. Curator: Yes! Or they seem like ghosts, eternally present and tormenting. But there’s also an incredible vulnerability present in their nakedness. It’s so stark and unglamorous, almost defiant. Do you think the vulnerability subverts a classical nude? Editor: Precisely. These are not idealized forms; they are very much bodies marked by the passage of time, rendered vulnerable under what I would argue is the insidious gaze of political terror. Consider also that raw flesh, and how violence and carnality mix there in this visual space. Curator: Yes, it brings forth that primal, visceral element that underscores their exposure and vulnerability. Also, isn't it kind of amazing that this moment in Lithuanian history can become a conversation about form and representation, trauma, and even just what "home" can mean in a political sense? Editor: Exactly. Art creates that important interstice, giving us space to both see and hopefully, eventually, start to heal. Curator: Absolutely. The strangeness allows for space to consider it all and not dismiss a complicated and heavy history. Editor: Agreed. It resonates beyond its time, making this such a fascinating and complex piece.