Janina Sabaliauskaitė: SENDING LOVE
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art
Saturday 17th September 2022 - Sunday 15th January 2023
SENDING LOVE is the first UK solo exhibition by Lithuanian born and Newcastle based artist-photographer, researcher and independent curator Janina Sabaliauskaitė. The exhibition is a love letter to her transnational LGBTQ+ community presenting new and existing images from her personal archive.
Showcasing portraits of dear and loved friends – a chosen family – SENDING LOVE seeks to mobilise and make visible queer-feminist lives in the pursuit of solidarity, emancipation and positive social change.
Each image filling the gallery, inside and outside, exemplifies what it means to be free and to live with self-determination in the face of continued homophobia. The photos are the result of close personal relationships, presenting moments of joy and intimacy, alongside sensual collaborative photographs of Sabaliauskaitė and her lovers. The exhibition celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community encouraging dialogue about the fight for human rights both within Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom.
Large digitally printed matt vinyl photographs are accompanied by smaller analogue prints which together expose raw, candid and emotive moments. The photos are at once carefully composed, scripted and abstracted while at the same time natural, close and tender. They provide us quiet reflection and unbridled sexuality, a dizzying melting pot of hedonistic rebellion.
The exhibition forms only a small part of a growing archive, a continuous documentation process. With hope to inspire others to do the same. To be openly visible, take space, reach out and stay true to oneself.
This project is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Photos: Colin Davison