MONEY IN PHOTOGRAPHS

Location: Prospect Gallery (Gedimino pr. 43, Vilnius)

On 2 October 2002, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Bank of Lithuania and the litas, the first exhibition “Money in Photographs” was opened.

Organised together with the Lithuanian Photographers Association, it was the third art exhibition to feature money as the key object. From all works submitted by 45 participants from various regions of the country, 164 photographs were included in the exhibition catalogue of the same name. Out of 90 exhibits on display, some of them were presented by famous and internationally acclaimed photographers: Romualdas Požerskis, Antanas Sutkus, Aleksandras Macijauskas, Romualdas Rakauskas, Rimantas Dichavičius, Romualdas Augūnas and Vitalijus Butyrinas, although young talents were featured as well: Ruslanas Baranauskas, Ramūnas Danisevičius, Vėtrė Antavaičiūtė and Vidmantas Ilčiukas. The captured trade transactions at village and city markets, other points of sale and auctions as well as various daily life scenes and events as if softened the coldness and rationality inherent to money. The characters in the photographs seemed to reveal the depths of their souls, thus expressing the distinctive national features. The exhibits also revealed controversial social and economic money-related phenomena.

When discussing this exhibition, Skirmantas Valiulis, a television, photography and film critic, pointed out that money always helped highlight the essence of human relations as well as our inner cataclysms. Photography can convey contrasts, capture even the tiniest, yet significant, details or fragments that precisely depict the place and importance of each object, the complicated monetary relations, as well as the peculiar artistic approach towards money and its role in society.