UK - Lithuania
Curator: Wendy Rowe 

Aleksandras Ostašenkovas
Regina Šulskytė

Juozas Bindokas
Rolandas Parafinavičius
Claire Parr
Andy Ford
People of Communities 
 

"Rytojus prasidėjo vakar" is documentary photographic project undertaken in northern Lithuania in March 2004. Participants in the project were members of the rural communities of Žagare, a historical town near the northern border with Latvia, and the farming villages of Pociūnėliai and Skėmiai.

From the beginning, it was intended that the people of the communities would make their photographs unaided. In the same way, amateur family photograph albums become filled with telling historical detail when viewed from a distance of time.

 

Film and cameras were handed out to all who wished to take part, with some suggestions about what might be interesting to later generations and historians. It was stressed that the quality of the photographs was not relevant; the aim was to make a comprehensive record of daily life.

Four Lithuanian photographers took part in the project, Aleksandras Ostašenkovas, Regina Šulskytė, Rolandas Parafinavičius and Juozas Bindokas; all experienced artists who live and work in Siauliai.

 

Andy Ford and Claire Parr, photo artists from Manchester, UK, joined the project because of their experience in community work.

 

During the period of the project, the photographers made their own professional record of community life and were on hand to offer advice and encouragement. The British artists, experienced in working with communities, were resident in the communities for 10 days from March 24 – 2 April. The role of the Lithuanian professional photographers was to visit the communities to talk with the people and to make their own photographic records.

 

 

 

Andy Ford, Žagarė village boarding school