We invite you to Emilija Tamulionytė’s photo exhibition “The World Openly” on the second floor of the library.
“How long until ice cream, Mama?” Emilia (14) would have asked for the tenth time that spring day if she could say these words. To distract her from the steep and winding streets of Milan, I offered her my camera. The rest of the family trip took an unplanned new direction. Like a toy gun, Emilia began to aim the camera lens at anything that seemed interesting to her, my mother and I guessed. She didn’t even notice the monuments that normally attract tourists. One of the targets was the people on the street. Emilia did not feel the usual sense of awkwardness when crossing the boundaries between herself and strangers. People around her would turn away in alarm when they felt the lens pointed at them, but when they saw a little girl hiding behind the camera, they seemed to relax. The exception was a man who turned unhappy when Emilia took a picture of his dog. However, the girl in the same shots did not look away as long as Emilia was looking at her through the camera’s eye. Emilia has opened up Italy, loved and idealised by many, to a wider audience. Italy has no shortage of eye-catching sights, but without prejudice, Emilia’s eyes saw everything. From the dog-poo fashion on the streets of the capital to the eyes and smiles of people across the spectrum, No matter what nationality they were or what language they spoke, Emilia approached them without saying a word and got to know them. Not being aware of social constructs allowed her to experience the world without fear of being ostracised. These photographs are the results of her courage”, says Emilija’s sister, Elžbieta Tamulionytė.
Curators and organizers of the exhibition: Emilija Tamulionytė, Elžbieta Tamulionytė and Jurgita Tamulionienė.
Thanks: Lina Laura Švedaitė, Indrė Urbelytė.