Egidija Čiricaitė
London, UK
www.egidija.com
https://www.instagram.com/egidija/

dangus*/dew (everything is true)
2024
Artist book built with layers of 18gsm ino shi paper.
7×14 in

Artist Statement

Semi-translucent pages of light, yet tactile 18gsm ino shi paper, build an image reminiscent of south Lithuanian bedspread patterns. The words — barely legible — blend into black and red typewritten patterns, overlap, vanish and then re-emerge back as lexical entities from a network of new visual and verbal metaphors. All the English and Lithuanian words in this visual-poem-book, are connected to the words for sky/dangus though their proto-indoeuropean root.

Inspired by Lithuanian textile patterns, dangus*/dew (everything is true) books are typewritten into the twilight space between weaving, writing and speaking. Traditionally, weaving used to happen in the time left from other spring works; it was often accompanied by singing and storytelling – thus tying together the craft of textiles and the craft of narration. I use typewriter as a printmaking tool, considering “typing” as a metaphor for weaving and “weaving” as a metaphor for writing and speaking. The book explores traditional Lithuanian bedspread patterns, exploiting bilingual shifts between words and concepts, composing poetry as a score between the visual and the verbal, the verbal and the aural, the aural and the auratic, the auratic and the material.

My patterns are lifted from the bedspreads woven by my great aunt in southern Lithuania. It is an area famous not only for its textiles and singing, but also for its complicated political past, while the border shifted up and down between the countries, the weaving patterns – like songs – remained the same, bringing a measure of stability and continuity at the times turmoil.

As an artist, I play with and around language through writing, typewriting, publishing, performance and academic research, creating nebulous worlds at the periphery of linguistic experience. Often bilingual, marked by ethereal layers of spoken or written words, my books question definite nature of linguistic encounter.

My practice is informed by my research and interests in linguistics, with a particular focus on cognitive pragmatics and relevance theory. My interests in linguistics, traverse into aesthetics theory and literary arts. I was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. I am now based in London, pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD at the Slade, UCL and UCL Linguistics, London