By: Azad Karimi
From my perspective I feel I can offer the stories of those who are hardly heard and share what I experience in travels and other cultures.
Interview
Lithuanian Photo Journalist and Reporter Denis Vejas
By Azad Karimi
Elections were held in Belarus and the country was suddenly in turmoil.
Why?
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus few weeks ago, has been re-elected by a miracle of a false prophet. People became angry and took to the streets, and the police began to suppress the protesters.
Denis ,my valuable friend and Lithuanian Photo Journalist and reporter sent me this link. Please take a look at this excellent link:
This photo is an immortal photo. He has taken the photo and has written his observations about events, violent and protests.
I think that Denis sent me the article after three or four days demonstrations in Belarus.
Now, I'm actually thinking about Andrei Sakharov. If he were alive, what would he say against President Putin? In my opinion, he was definitely saying: What were you doing during those years when I was in prison and protesting? I was miserable and persecuted and you benefited! President Putin, President Madoro, Ayetullah Khamenei, President Lukashenko and President Ardogan love ruling on their chair.... Yes! Chair! Why? because they have become unpleasant after 5, 6, 8 years ruling.They love selves and think they have gotten historical mission from God to ruling on poor people. Who put this baseless thinking in their brains. God knows!Please read our interview, I wish the best of bests for my dear friend, my lovely brother, Denis!
Thank you!
Vestland-Norway
1&2-Please present yourself, what is your artistic specialize?
.I am Denis Vejas, Vilnius based visual storyteller and a hardcore traveler.
I always felt attracted by the things happening on the peripheries of the global world, focusing on the social outskirts and the spaces that are commonly marginalized.
I am spending a lot of time on the road, and naturally focusing my main photography work on the issues of migration, human rights, and effects of globalization.
The other big part of my work is atmospheric fine-art photography. It is a more personal part of my work, which usually happens in parallel with the documentary projects.
Lately, however, in my storytelling, I am trying to combine both; documentary and fine art, to produce a spacious and atmospheric narrative.
3-4 .When and how did you become interested in this field of art? Who was your motivator?
.I was studying cinema for one year - documentary film making - also one year of philosophy, but then I have started traveling and never came back to university.
While traveling I have fallen in love with still image. The power of a single image fascinated me in the way that, if taken out of context, the image can tell a story on its own. It’s up to you how close you wanna get to reality. When I am building a body of work, I am always trying to keep a fine line between what I show and what I leave for the imagination of the viewer to play with.
5- What was your parent’s reaction?
.I never had issues with my parents about the things I do.
6- When started you such as a professional artist?
.I think the most fundamental experience that has left the biggest impact on me is traveling. I have spent around 13 years on the road traveling independently, being directly exposed to all kinds of experiences. I think the state of being constantly curious, always facing something new, and being open for whatever comes next is the backbone of both; my work and my personality.
It would be hard to say what comes first - photography out of traveling, or traveling out of photography.
7- Are you thankful and happy because of your activities as an artist?
.Definitely yes, however, as in most artists’ lives ups and downs are very natural part of creative process.
8- How you see the view in fields of Culture, Art, and Wisdom?
.With everything that technology now can offer, I think artists have the opportunities to be heard and it’s very important. Art is so much more linked to the emotions than other expressions that have the opportunity to pass through all the filters, such as political correctness, ethics etc. It is giving artists opportunity to deliver the message using any tone they choose.
9- Can you become one part of the artistic/cultural movement for motivation in youth or new generation in your country and so than?
.I think I function better, when working on my own. I love to collaborate with other artists (especially from different artistic disciplines) and organizations, but on the most part I am working on my own.
10- How is your relationship with nature?
.It’s very important to me. For the first ten years of travels I was spending moist of my time away from urban surroundings. It was mostly nature and small villages. Later on I became really attracted by big cities and the postmodern culture that they can offer.
11- Can explain you about connecting of wisdom and ethics?
.I think both; wisdom and ethics are the things that different cultures accent differently. What is fully acceptable in one part of the world can be seen as arrogant and rude in other, so my point of view here is more about understanding ant not judging cultures from the perspective of your own ego-centrism.
12-How describe you the modern human and what are the characteristics of a civilized human being?
.For these two questions I think we should really consider that cultures are very different and both modern and civilized can have very different meaning depending if you are asking a westerner or a person from developing country.
Even though globalization is huge force that has reached even the furthest corners of the world, very important to understand the differences of social and cultural environment which is so different for all of us.
However, world is facing an environmental crisis right now, that could be overcome only if we work on it as one, and if I would have to choose two words to describe what civilized person should mean now, it would be responsible and empathetic.
14- I want to ask you explain the connection between modernity and civilization... Do you see anything between them? What kind of connection?
.At this particular time of history these two things are strongly interconnected. I think technologies and digital connectivity plays huge role in all the processes that take place now, having both; a positive and negative outcome. Two very simple examples; on one hand technologies let people connect and share information very fast, it let same-minded people group together and became more independent, in some cases it let people mobilize and come together against the systems of oppression. On other hand, it’s crucially important to develop critical thinking, as the mass of information that is available is also widely used for propaganda and brain washing.
15-How can you help our world become a better place to live? Have you any project?
.From my perspective I feel I can offer the stories of those who are hardly heard and share what I experience in travels and other cultures.
