2016, December 30
Authors: Darius Chmieliauskas ir Tadas Kazakevičius
Photography is evolving at amazing speed and because of it our community is becoming very advanced and skilled technologically. We have a huge potential to commemorate what will not occur later in even more advanced and more metropolitan community. That is purely invaluable. One of the Lithuanian photography classics even made a remark – there is nothing left worth photographing after people started to be so touchy and aware of their personal privacy rights. Our cities became very similar worldwide, similar copied objects, full of faceless and isolated people who are closed, superstitious and too aware of everything that surrounds them.
But who can say, there are no places anymore where being natural and ordinary still comes naturally, where bare feet and wide smiles are exactly the same as it was five decades ago. There is still a lot to photograph, the only problem is inability to find it, see it. One of things worth another look is our Lithuanian villages. We are not talking about the villages which were built during the Soviet reign in so common soviet masonry but about the old, authentic and unique places where you can make yourself believe that you came back in time.
Silenai is the small and very authentic village very close from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. It is a place where summer is still barefooted and so familiarly careless. It is believed that the village is around 500 years ago and its biggest wealth is the small but cosy church of the St. Virgin Mary. Not very far from it there is a very small ancient spring believed to be miraculous for the deceased people. Here we met not only old people but young families whose kids are still enjoying the real summer. This is a story about the happy and friendly children of Silenai.
