EXHIBITION “UNITY OF ANGELS” | Nomeda Čiurlionytė

Nomeda Čiurlionytė
EXHIBITION "UNITY OF ANGELS"

06 03 – 04 05 2024
Opening 5:30 pm, March 6, 2024

The Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis House in Vilnius continues the cycle of exhibitions "The Čiurlionis Tribe Today", which started in 2020. These exhibitions allow visitors to get acquainted with the representatives of the broad tribe of Čiurlionis, spread all over the world, who are today realizing themselves in the most diverse spheres of creativity. Recent years have seen expositions of artworks by Juris Čiurlionis, who lives and works in Cleveland, Ariadna Čiurlionytė, a watercolourist from Vilnius, Jazmina Cicinas, who lives in Melbourne, Katryna Maria Čiurlionis, who lives in Chicago, and, more recently, the work of Kaunas-based Džiugas Palukaitis. As the anniversary year approaches, the meetings with the artists of the Čiurlionis tribe continue. This year, visitors to the Čiurlionis House will meet two more representatives of the Čiurlionis tribe: the painter Nomeda Čiurlionyte and the photographer Paulis Lileikis.

The angel, as a sign of the spiritual world and protector, guardian, and carrier of light and peace, is often visible in the paintings of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. When the woman artist visited the Čiurlionis House in Vilnius and talked about the forthcoming exhibition there, she had to admit that it was only now that she had noticed the unexpected parallel between the angels in her oeuvre and that of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. Although the angel as a symbol is not a stranger to Nomeda Čiurlionytė's various creative periods, it is exactly in recent years that it has become a predominant theme, carrying a very clear charge and meaning.

Each of us is experiencing the war in Ukraine differently, and this exhibition is the artist's personal reaction to the events in her occupied homeland. When Ukrainian soldiers asked her to create amulets to wear in their protective vests, she painted guardian angels who went to the front. These angels took on the symbol of a woman: a mother, a wife, a daughter. They wait patiently for their men to return from the war zone victorious. A distinctive feature is the wings of the angels, which take center stage in the compositions of the artworks. The angels are trying to use their wings to drive away and cleanse the darkness that descends on innocent people. These angels have no facial features, as the main focus of the paintings is the white, energetic wings of angels. When people are at war, when rivers of blood are spilling, the beautiful angels unite silently and ask us: what are you doing, people?

Most of the works in the exhibition were created in the extremely turbulent period between 2022 and 2024, when the war in Ukraine began, was, and still is ongoing.

Nomeda Čiurlionytė was born in 1974 in Vilnius. After graduating from secondary school Nr.50, she moved to London, where she continued her studies at Westminster College and became involved in the fashion show, television, and film industries. Later she studied graphic design, digital design, and film editing at Kensington and Chelsea College. She was involved in the organization of the Portobello Festival, the development of the event's website, and the short film “EX Boxers Overweight“. As a member of the electronic music band NBAW (New Breed of Alternative Workers), Nomeda Čiurlionytė created visual art for the band‘s performances in England, Austria, and Germany. Since 2009, she has been living in Ukraine and regularly participating in exhibitions and art projects and has founded an art studio for children.