Its author, the famous photographer Klaudius Driskius, spent a lot of time in the villages of Belarus, where ethnic Lithuanians live.

A personal exhibition of Claudius Driskius opened in the Vilnius Gallery of Photography

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dedicated to the inhabitants of the Lithuanian-speaking island in Belarus, around Herviat.

Part of the exhibition are authentic stories of its heroes, also translated into Belarusian.

The exhibition "Dissolving Identity" opened in the Vilnius Gallery of Photography.

Its author, the famous photographer Klaudius Driskius, spent a lot of time in the villages of Belarus, where ethnic Lithuanians live.

He created a series of portrait photographs of the inhabitants of Hervyat, Rymdyun, Gir, and other settlements of the Astravetsky District - in their daily worries and during solemn and important events.

The ethno-linguistic uniqueness of the Lithuanian-speaking island is disappearing: as noted by the author of the foreword to the exhibition, the philosopher

Vytautas Ališauskas

, people leave for Lithuania, others fail to pass on their identity to their descendants, and more and more visitors are attracted to the Ostrovets nuclear power station.

And yet "the subtle connection with the centuries-old past, having survived forced atheism, collectivization, leap into a new era, still


lives, although it melts - like all forms of life," says Ališauskas.

One of the heroes of the photo portraits is

Alphonsas Augulis

, himself a native of the village of Pelegrinda near Herviatau, the first diplomatic representative of independent Lithuania in independent Belarus, who did a lot to preserve the cultural and linguistic identity of his compatriots, to create a Lithuanian-language school, which the Belarusian authorities closed this year, despite protests and appeals.

Augulis spoke at the opening of the exhibition, where local songs were also performed by friends of the Croatian community.

An integral part of the exhibition are texts, mainly authentic stories of the heroes of the photo portraits, ethnographic and household icons, Easter songs.

The photographer considered it mandatory that all texts be translated into Belarusian.

The exhibition will be on display until February 18.

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