Public Secrets

Visvaldas Morkevicius

Nominated by

2015

The Public Secrets is a collection of urban experiences. The geography of these experiences spans both the city’s nightlife (as well as what’s left behind the scenes) and private spaces which provoke and, often, dictate specific actions. The city is a setting that produces situations, in which one can participate and, by participating, change the contours of this space, at least in the sense of perception and seeing. The author captures the environment (the city and its people) in a distinctive manner that is intimate, subjective and minimal. These are poignant sensations, charismatic characters, public stories and private truths. Yet the photographer never violates privacy, as, while being a participant and witness of events, he focuses on eloquent details of the situation. Vivid shots become an individual phenomenological study comprising scenes from the backstage of culture and everyday life, which are as crucial for getting a comprehensive and genuine view of the city as is its official, façade image.

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The Artist

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Visvaldas Morkevicius

Nominated in

2025

Visvaldas Morkevicius

Lives and Works in

Lithuania/Switzerland

Visvaldas Morkevicius (b. 1990) is a Lithuanian artist s a Lithuanian artist working in the expanded field of the image, who explores photography and its boundaries through personal experiences and reflections on society. His work navigates themes of identity, technology, and power, blending minimalism with layered narratives to examine modern life’s emotional and psychological dimensions.
At this moment, he is pursuing his MA diploma in Photography at EACL, Switzerland (2025).

Visvaldas works reflect a deep engagement with contemporary life's emotional and psychological dimensions, examining how hyperconnectivity, media saturation, and systemic forces shape human perception, memory, and agency. The artist's approach is both critical and reflective. He uses photography and interdisciplinary media to explore themes of loss, disconnection, and resilience, juxtaposing personal experience with broader societal dynamics. His art often reveals the tension between intimacy and detachment, questioning how technology mediates relationships, reframes violence, and commodifies identity. Visvaldas draws from psychoanalysis
and critical theory to investigate the cycles of desire, control, and addiction embedded in modern systems.
He is particularly interested in how these systems exploit human vulnerability, trapping individuals in loops of consumption and obedience. Through his practice, he challenges viewers to confront the fragile balance between autonomy and control, reality and hyperreality.His work combines stark minimalism with layered narratives, creating immersive experiences that invite reflection on contemporary life's emotional and ethical implications. Visvaldas seeks to uncover hidden connections, offering a lens through which to question the forces that shape our lives while exploring the human desire for meaning, connection, and self-expression.

Represented by Galerie Elisabeth & Reinhard Hauff

More projects by this artist

2021

Looking Forward to Meet Me

Looking Forward to Meet Me is a project realised as a (narcissistic) introspection; an artist’s self-analysis transformed into a visual and spatial work. The title of the project, Looking Forward to Meet Me, is a projection of a future moment, an impending encounter with oneself. While the collection of works within the project includes one self-portrait by Morkevičius, the photograph remains almost imperceptible as it is framed underneath a stained glass pane. The project is thus a portrait ‘in becoming’ that relies on art history symbols, tropes borrowed from classical mythology, psychoanalytic interpretations, and personal memories. Some visual elements are rather figurative, while other photographic works drift towards abstraction. As a result, the project creates a collage of myriad connections and associations that defy arbitrary boundaries of representation as portrayal. Looking Forward to Meet Me rejects the canonical quality of objective likeness that the genre of this project is defined by and delves into the process of self-awareness, recognition and understanding.

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2024

Rift

Rift examines the intricate relationship between media saturation and personal perception within an era of intensified tension and unease. Following Lithuania’s independence in 1991, the nation’s media landscape remained engaged and responsive, particularly regarding the enduring spectre of foreign influence and past occupant influence. This atmosphere grew even more charged after Crimea’s annexation in 2014, as the media cycle became dominated by the imminence of war, casting a shadow over daily life. The ongoing conflict, particularly the war in Ukraine, sustains a sense of looming instability, amplifying anxieties and reshaping perceptions beyond the virtual world. This project confronts the psychological state of paralysis and powerlessness that arises in response to relentless, anxiety-inducing media narratives, unveiling the profound impact these stories have on our sense of agency. Through this lens, it explores the ways in which media not only informs but also permeates individual experience, revealing the emotional weight of distant wars and questioning the limits of influence in an era marked by constant crisis. Rift, 2024 | 100x150cm, aluminium, shot through with a .45 calibre gun.

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2024

I Want to Tell You Something

Losing someone is like the sky surrendering a star, a note falling silent in a familiar tune. Everything changes, with memories lingering in the air like echoes in empty rooms. Moments resurface unexpectedly: fragments of laughter, the warmth of a touch, vivid and almost too real to be gone. Moving forward feels strange, like walking on uneven ground, each step shifting what once felt certain. You drift between shadows and light, caught between the past and the future. Something within you subtly rearranges, yet nothing feels completely whole. Using photography as a medium, the artist captures the emotional terrain of loss - fragmented memories, fleeting moments, and the interplay of absence and presence - creating visual echoes that explore the fragile balance between holding on and moving forward. Ultimately, the piece becomes a “letter to self of the acceptance.”