Tirpstanti tapatybė: Baltarusijos lietuviai

LTFotografijos ir tekstai knygai-albumui sukurti remiantis 28 ekspedicijų, surengtų į Baltarusijos lietuvių gyvenamas vietoves, medžiaga. 2012—2018 m. dirbta Astrave, Ašmenoje, Duboke, Gervėčiuose, Gėliūnuose, Galčiūnuose, Giriose, Kerplėšinėje, Knystuškėse, Mockose, Petrikuose, Varnionyse. Dauguma šių kaimų ir miestelių yra Astravo atominės elektrinės kaimynystėje, vos už kelių kilometrų. Krašto gyvenimas atspindėtas per charakteringų žmonių portretus, įamžintas krikštynas, vestuves, laidotuves. Albume išryškinti tradiciniai amatai ir gyventojų kasdienis darbas, gausus kalendorinių švenčių ratas: Velykų šventės, Sekminių papročiai, gegužinės ir birželinės pamaldos, Švč. Trejybės atlaidai, kryžiaus kelias palei Nerį (Viliją) Duboke, Žolinė, Kalėdos. Atskira albumo dalis — tekstai. Juose autentiškais žmonių liudijimais užfiksuota istorinė krašto praeitis ir XXI a. pirmi dešimtmečiai [http://www.ramuva.lt].

ENThis is a book containing photographs and texts about Lithuanians who live beyond the borders of Lithuania, in the ethnic Lithuanian lands located in Belarus. Today, this border corresponds with the external border of the EU, which divides not only states but different political orders - democracy and authoritarianism. In the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the present-day territory of Belarus was populated by Lithuanians in many areas. A number of the inhabitants of the Astravyets, Ashmyany, Smarhon', Vileyka, Myadzyel, Vidzy, Braslaw, Lida and Voranava districts considered themselves as Lithuanians. In the 16th - 19th centuries, many Lithuanians living at these places came to view themselves more as Belarusians, others - as Polish. In 1918, as the Lithuanian state was being established, Lithuanians from the ethnic lands in the east of the Vilnius Province, which is today part of Belarus, wanted the territory where they lived to be included in Lithuania. After an extended period of political dealings, in 1939, when Lithuania had recovered Vilnius, some ethnic Lithuanian lands remained within the territory of Belarus. The Lithuanians in Belarus have retained their identity, they participated in the Sąjūdis national revival movement, and in the restoration of Lithuania's independence - many of them have Lithuanian citizenship. Yet, upheavals in this land - urbanisation, the construction of the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant - are dissolving traditional ways of life, along with ethnicity.Photographer Klaudijus Driskius has created portraits of character full figures, he has captured family celebrations, traditional crafts, glimpses of school life and daily tasks. The book reflects the rich cycle of annual celebrations: Easter, Pentecost customs, traditional May and June prayers, the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the Way of the Cross along the Neris River near Dubok, the Feast of the Assumption and of course, Christmas. The first photographs printed in the album were taken in the autumn of 2011. The last were created in the summer of 2018. These images not only give us an insight into this exotic ethnographic space, or the piety of ordinary people, we also get a strange sense of eternity. The texts make up a separate part of the album, in which the authentic recollections of these people serve as a record of the historic past of this land and the first decades of the 21st century.

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Menotyra / Arts