While studying textiles I learned a few things about this industry and started paying more attention to the amount of chemicals that go into each process, the same ones that pollute the rivers and ground waters in the places where cheap production produces slaves of fast fashion. I was seeing excited consumers in high street stores buying yet another piece of clothing to sooth their souls. I could just guess how many times these items were used before they ended up in landfills, most likely back in the countries that produced them or other colonised places.
I wanted to run away from this madness. But instead, I kept on watching documentaries about meat and pharmaceutical industries, waste and politics of capitalism, deforestation and sand wars, loss of biodiversity and climate refugees… As the anxiety grew, I knew I have to create something to counterbalance the destruction we, humans, engage in.
Firstly, I wanted to inspire people to appreciate their environment and find beauty in the structures that surround and connect us. Organic shapes inspired by structures of plants, cities, molecules and galaxies found way in my intuitive watercolour paintings, handmade textiles items and notebooks. I was interested in the formation and repetition of patterns in human behaviour and communication resembling other natural structures.
With time I felt that abstracted shapes were not enough to express my ideas, as I wanted to address relevant environmental, social or political issues. At this point I started making collages, which helped me to define my ideas and process unsettling events. In turn, collages inspired my paintings, where I combined troubling thoughts of human-caused destruction and ideas of creation and interconnectedness of all things natural.
In my creative process I try to use recycled and natural materials whenever possible. Creating collages using old magazines not only provides visual and verbal source of information, it is also a way to create new stories from discarded materials. In the same way I use second-hand textiles to recreate their stories and meanings.
Through my creative or cultural activities, regardless the techniques I use or the ways I get engaged, I wish to explore patterns of human behaviour and the influence of culture on sustainability. I believe we need to recreate our shared stories and strengthen communities to bring a shift in our collective vision.
Liucija Dervinytė – a visual artist and cultural manager, co-founder of Ideas Block creative space and organisation, Arttice platform for cultural networking. She studied visual arts and painting in M.K.Čiurlionis Art School, Vilnius, Lithuania, and BA in Textiles at The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently Liucija is continuing her studies in Textiles Art and Design Masters program at Vilnius Academy of Arts. She has previously exhibited and took part in collaborative art projects in The United Kingdom, Mexico, Sweden and Lithuania.
Find out more:
Ideas Block creative space;
Arttice arts & culture platform for networking, collaborating and exploring.
Artistic activities and inspirations on Instagram and Pinterest;
Ideacycle project on Etsy, Facebook and Instagram.
