Called "a poet of images", Evaldas is a publishing designer who loves photomontage and digital elaborations the most. He creates surreal visual stories, best-known is the "Conversations with Vincas Firinauskas" series in which pre-war people come to life in the artist's work. Evaldas builds a visual dialogue, a plot between different characters gathered from Vincas Firinauskas' old photographs and his own. 

Hello, Evaldas,

First of all, I would like to thank you so much for taking the time to tell us your thoughts about yourself and your work. 

To begin, tell us where are you from. Some thoughts about yourself and your passions that you can share?

I live in Lithuania, a very beautiful country by the Baltic Sea. I work as a designer in a publishing house and I take photographs. I like the photomontage genre the most. Apart from all this, there are three main hobbies - cinema, literature, and music.

These are the things that influence my photography. Resonating with each other, these things help activate the visual imagination.

What made you approach photography and become an artist? Please share with us how this journey started.. moments, feelings, experiences. 

Creative games have fascinated me all my life, ever since I was a child. And my profession led me to photography. My profession is publishing design. I've been working with photo illustrations and other authors' photo albums for a long time. I wanted to take up photography and edit my own images. I picked up a digital camera almost 20 years ago. But photography alone wasn't enough for me, I fell in love with the photomontage genre.

Photography helps me to go beyond the routine of my profession, it allows me to be free in my choices and decisions. I often lack this kind of freedom in my professional affairs.

What about your artistic journey, techniques, and subjects you have experimented with till now?

Every artistic journey is also a journey to oneself. For me, on such a trip, it is important to restore and preserve my emotional experience and memory. Not only what happened now, but also what happened a long time ago in my childhood. I do what is important to me first. Only by being honest with myself, I can be interesting to others.

Where do you find the inspiration for your visual stories?

All the works of art seen, all the books read, all the theater plays and movies watched, plus personal experiences are deposited in the soul like chemicals in a bottle. In such a bottle of the soul, internal reactions begin, new connections, and new elements are created. The origin of the plots in my works looks somewhat similar.

What is the intent of your art, your mission, and what are the aspects that differentiate you from others?

I have no goals or mission. I simply love what I do. Creativity gives people moments of happiness: moments of discovery for the author, and moments of knowledge for the viewer. Art is a great form of communication. If I create, then I want to say something, talk about something, if the work has touched the soul of the viewer- then the conversation has taken place.

Please share with us what gear you use (camera, lenses, lighting..).

For a long time, I used a Sony camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, as well as a Canon camera, but my main tool has always been and remains the same - Adobe Photoshop. I'm more of a designer than a photographer when it comes to visuals.

What is the process of creation of your works? Please tell us a few words about the workflow.

Often the image appears in the mind as an idea, as a plot. Then I start collecting fragments of photographs to make them a reality. I browse through my archives or photograph the objects I need. And sometimes the idea comes after looking at a photograph that has already been taken. It's somewhat like a theatre of images.

Can you tell us what is your favorite photo and why? Please tell us the story behind it.

To this day, the photomontage "Zhana D'Ark" from the series "Conversations with Vincas Firinauskas" is still important to me. This cycle is a series of photomontages in which I used 20th-century fragments from vintage photographs of the photographer who worked at the beginning. I remembered a girl sitting alone, so reserved and proud. The idea of arming her with a wooden sword emerged. Then I thought of setting up a whole "army" of children in the village meadow with wooden spears. Collected from various photographs of Firinauskas, the children of those times stand with very serious faces, in this way the children's play no longer looks like a game, it is something more.

Please share with us three of your favorite photographers you admire, why, and how did they influence your photographic journey?

The first two are Robert and Shana Parke Harrison - an amazing creative duo. I admire the visual aesthetic and intrigue of these artists. The third author I must mention is Joel-Peter Witkin. In his work, the compositional aesthetic seems to struggle with the macabre content of the plot. His works are like living proof that art does not and cannot have any boundaries. It is both disturbing and inspiring.

Please choose one of your favorite photographs of all time and tell us why did you nominate it.

Although I have named Americans when mentioning my favorite photographers, my favorite photo is from 1959. Photo by Lithuanian photographer Antanas Sutkaus "Marathon on University Street" (https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/antanas-sutkus-1/#gallery1-2). A very engaging image that conveys the charm and vitality of old Vilnius. There remains a very personal connection with this photograph.

How do you imagine the evolution of your work and your figure as an artist in the future?

I believe that art will always be relevant. As long as people have feelings, so will art. If I manage to stay true to myself, I will have an audience for my work.

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