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Photo
100 × 60 см, акрил, фанера.
Immediately after the occupation of Lithuania in 1940 and during the first years following World War II, up until 1953, the Soviet Union deported approximately 132 000 Lithuanians to labor camps in northern and Siberian regions, including Komi, the Altai Krai, the Irkutsk Oblast, and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. This accounted for one in every twenty-two residents of Lithuania. Entire families were taken away and scattered in different directions. Even after Stalin’s death, they had to wait many years for the right to return to Lithuania. Those who survived until the amnesty and returned to Lithuania, as well as their children, were banned from holding leadership positions and receiving higher education. They were constantly monitored by the KGB.
My work illustrates this tragic period of Lithuanian history. It is a 375-piece puzzle, from which seventeen pieces have been removed and scattered throughout the exhibition space.
Drawing