Veronikos Šleivytės fotografijos bruožai

LTIš autoportretų ir draugysčių dokumentacijos susidėlioja įdomios moters gyvenimo vaizdinys - kenčiančios, bet į savo išgyvenimus sugebančios pažvelgti tarsi iš šalies, šiek tiek su ironija; mylinčios savo artimuosius ir gimtąjį kaimą, bet branginančios ir savo miestišką gyvenimą; analizuojančios save ir mylinčios moteris. Taip pat čia atsiskleidžia jos polinkis eksperimentuoti su fotografijos kalba ir taip pralenkti laiką - bent jau Lietuvoje. Fotografijomis Šleivytė papasakoja apie save daugiau nei rašydama autobiografiją, paliudija, kad ji buvo ne tik dailininkė, bet ir fotografė. Pabaigai galima pasakyti, kad nors čia mėginta kuo plačiau ir išsamiau aprėpti Veronikos Šleivytės kūrybą, jos archyvas dar laukia gilesnių tyrinėjimų. Straipsnyje išryškintos autorės savistabos ir homoseksualumo temos man pasirodė įdomiausios, tačiau tai nereiškia, kad jos buvo svarbiausios pačiai fotografei. Visi čia aptarti vaizdai buvo tikslingai išskirti iš Šleivytės pozityvų ir negatyvų archyvo, tačiau jį tyrinėjant, tikriausiai galima kurti ir kitokius pasakojimus - nes Veros Šleivytės kūryba yra labai turininga ir įvairialypė [p. 61].

ENSeveral suitcases filled with negatives and positive prints left by Veronika Šleivytė to the Kupiškis Ethnographic Museum have provided an excellent opportunity to investigate the yet undiscovered artistic heritage. Veronika Šleivytė (1906-1998) was, first of all, an artist. Although born in a poor family from a small village Viktariškiai, Veronika dreamed to become an art teacher and pursued her dream: she entered the Kaunas Art School, Graphic Arts Studio in 1924 and graduated in 1934. Afterwards she worked in various schools until 1946 when she resigned for the sake of an artist's career. Whereas during the interwar period she was famous for her prints representing the social aspects of life in Lithuanian countryside, after the war she concentrated on painting flowers as she wanted to "depict the new joyful Soviet life". In her autobiographies written in the 1960s Šleivytė never mentioned her photographic activities. Nevertheless, she participated in exhibitions of art photographers in the 1930s, and her photograph „At the Seaside" won the 8th prize at the exhibition of Lithuanian Amateur Photographers in 1933. Here photographs were occasionally published in newspapers and magazines. She was scrupulously signing her prints, writing comments and stamping them with a stamp „Photo by Vera Šleivytė". Thus, at least in the 1930s, photography was important to her. Šleivytė's photographic archive consists of mainly 'photographs for memory'. She used to photograph her family gatherings in Viktariškiai, especially the women of the family, also her life in Kaunas, special events such as fire in the Musical Theatre, flood as well as activities and group portraits of various organisations.These photographs are traditional, but she always tried to arrange people into dynamic compositions or mise- en-scenes. Sometimes she used to do montages of such photographs to express more complex ideas. In fact, her photographic art grew out of 'photographs for memory' and was always related to them. Another area where Šleivytė used photography was reproductions of her own and her students' paintings as well as a form of sketching for her 'more important' work in graphic arts. Those sketches mostly consisted of ethnographic shots of her parents doing various tasks at home or country people going to church, begging, etc. Then she used to transfer exactly the same composition, lighting, up to the tiniest detail into her prints or drawings. This is how her socially committed art was born. When she created photographic art, Šleivytė used the same 'photographs for memory,' only cropped them to suit her taste and produced better quality prints. From her photograph of her exposition at the First Exhibition of Lithuanian Amateur Photographers, it was possible to find all the negatives she used there.Her art photography conformed to the themes and compositions usually found in Lithuanian photography of the interwar period. It is dominated by lyrical mood, beautiful views, idealisation of traditional Lithuanian way of life, and there is no social criticism characteristic to her prints. However, when she photographed just for herself, not intending to show her work, she experimented more: there are attempts to colour photographs, stage situations, cases of montage, modernist portraits, nudes and even an album titled „The Film of V. Šleivytė's Life: 1952-1953" where she tells her own love story in photographs and texts. The most amazing part of her art photography is Šleivytė's photographs about herself and her girlfriends revealing her various homosexual relationships. Even in her family photographs she always included herself, but there are photographs where she used special lighting effects, compositions, facial expressions and inscriptions on the back of photographs in order to tell about various aspects of her personality. This short study of Veronika Šleivytė's work is in no way comprehensive. Her archive still waits for more detailed attention.