Fragmented identity

In my bachelor’s project I sought to present the problem of fragmented identity through the example of my own personality and artistic practice. My bachelor’s work is an analysis of myself. My main source of material has always been my own personal experiences, while also providing importance to my art style, which I view as a tool of communication with the outside world. This project is an installation made up of four objects.

One of them is a book made with a risograph, while the "tag", containing the title, date, and other information on the book, is a cyanotype print. This piece of cloth is attached to the book with a needle and thread and is a reference to tags on clothing. The book's title is "(Un)natural". In this book, I delve into the superficial layer of myself: the way I dress. I ask myself, from a psychological point of view, how and why I dress the way I do. In between the pages. there is a vast contrast between the often Lolita - inspired (Japanese subculture, that gained popularity in the 90'ties) outfits used as a means for self - expression and my bare skin.

Another project I created is "Mahnoor and I". This is a project shared with my Pakistani cousin, who is also an artist. We are filmed by our significant others. By reinterpretating the British tradition to hold the hair of the beloved in lockets and other jewelry, we tried to create a bond between ourselves. The hair, which I have cut in my video is also a part of the exhibition. By being presented in the exhibition, it becomes a "ready – made" object.

The rest of my projects’ main purpose is to show my multicultural heritage. One of them is a bowl titled "Fully empty", which is constructed out of an aquatint etching I made. In the etching you can see textile designs from four cultures, of which I am a part of or which shaped me as a person in one way or another. They are etched in a way that combines both my own drawing style and the original authentic ones from the culture they come from. I think of this bowl as a symbol of the long period during which I suffered from an eating disorder. The bowl is empty, yet full of meaning. That period is important to me as an artist, since that is when I began to form my art style, which I mentioned earlier. Lastly, there is a textile object, "Nida’s flow". It is made with the cyanotype technique. On this textile object, like the bowl, there are ornamental designs from the four cultures, which are a part of me. They are drawn by hand, before being transferred on white cotton with the cyanotype technique, using the same combination of styles mentioned before – my own and "my" cultures’.

These four cultures are: Lithuanian (my mother is Lithuanian), Pakistani (my father was Pakistani), British (I grew up in the United Kingdom) and indian (I lived in foster care of an indian household for a couple of years).

Summary

Creative project: Fragmented identity (installation made up of four objects: a bowl, which is a repurposed zinc etching and aquatint "Fully empty"; two smart phones with videos on display "Mahnoor and I"; a textile object, which is a cyanotype on white material, "Nida‘s flow" and a risograph book "(Un)natural"), 2025. Some of the exhibition's photos are taken by Anna Chostegian.