Cherchez la femme. A predecessor of influencers or exposure of life

2020, April 10


Author: Kamilė Blauzdytė

Our story takes place in a hut deep in the thick forest.

A middle-aged man opens the door. Gray hair and nearly bald, he builds up his face muscles and squeezes out a pleasantly strange smile. His dazzling white but the intermittently wrinkled shirt fits perfectly with his brightly colored rubber shoes. It was in this manner that Povilas Kulvinskas met me in the doorway and kindly invited me inside. My first step was timid, frightened. The walls were decorated with pictures of sinners and saints. Some women were on display among the posters of Vytautas the Great, the others appearing in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator posters.

P. Kulvinskas – a diverse and peculiar personality. I would not allow myself to identify him with a certain profession or skill. I do not think that he would feel good there either. The artist’s work is multi-layered and influential. Hundreds of poems have been composed in his books. His theatre is well-established. Performances, poetry evenings. He has collected a great collection of vinyl.

Povilas’ story is more interesting than any modern Instagram account, and his daily moments are reminiscent of stories of influencers. And not without reason I compare Povilas in the context of social networks. Nowadays, attracting attention from the public is not that difficult. I naively believe that Povilas Kulvinskas’ views would peak public interest, starting with his peculiar personality, and things he has to say, and onto this space, he has created.

House full of paintings, sculptures, clippings, in other words, a museum. Small paintings of various sizes, colors, meanings, and shapes cover the poet’s entire living space. This motif extends even to the outdoor toilet, the walls once decorated by posters of members of the unicameral parliament of Lithuania.

I should also mention another area of the house, which can be called a porn room, or a nightmare for feminists. The reflections of the muses hanging behind the wall, embodied in the saints, call into question the kind of women portrayed in this house. And how does the painting of the Virgin Mary feel when a torn page from a men’s magazine is taped onto her back?

Being in an environment like this is an opportunity to look at daily life differently. Sometimes it seems like the generation raised on social networks was blessed with access to pedestals and spotlights. We take these stages with us, quickly jump on them, turn on the spotlights, and screw ourselves into a vicious circle. Sometimes it seems that there

is no place to intervene anymore and the spotlight is shining on another side than we intended.

One year ago, when I met Povilas, I thought that the most important goal he had was to climb on that pedestal, despite the fact that the audience is sometimes unpretentious trees, the inattentive wind, or a passing villager. Today I understand that he is a man of our generation, but for some reason, he has not yet learned how to use the latest technology. It seems that he really deserves that pedestal and spotlight.

Povilas – influencer of creative meaning.

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