Ingrida Bagdonaite: COMFORTABLY UNCOMFORTABLE

23 Jun-30 Jul 2023

PV 21 Jun 2023, 4-7pm

Overview

Ingrida Bagdonaitė (b. Lithuania 1991) is a painter based in Norwich. She received her MA at Norwich University of Arts (2020) and BA at Vilnius Academy of Arts (2014). In 2019 she exhibited in the finalist show at Young Painter Prize XI in Vilnius, Lithuania, showcasing upcoming painters of Baltic Countries. Ingrida is a founding member of TBA Artist Collective in Norwich, curating and facilitating local exhibitions and events. Bagdonaitė has exhibited work in the UK, Lithuania, and Germany.

“The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing: every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. is bound to be noticed”. - Soren Kierkegaard

In her debut solo show COMFORTABLY UNCOMFORTABLE Bagdonaitė presents a new collection of paintings exploring the key themes of her practice: translation of image, notion of home, loss of identity through abandonment, and the fragility of time. She explores these themes through a personal and unseen- reaching into a sense of collective memory. 

The name of the exhibition does not hide, but on the contrary, it bluntly expresses the emotional condition of migration. In Bagdonaitė’s case her migration is voluntary, therefore she prefers to talk about the impossibility of ‘home’ in a more abstract sense that feeds into her paintings. This notion is recognisable to anyone who romanticises their childhood home that is no longer accessible, regardless of the distance. Bagdonaitė asks the question, what is/makes home? Is it positioned somewhere in the place, people, feeling, melancholia, and abandonment? Where does home reside? Is it the place or the memories? Bagdonaitė explores these questions through the nostalgic, uncanny, and unheimlish narratives of her paintings.