OPENING REMARKS BY THE LITHUANIAN AMBASSADOR TO IRELAND H.E. VIDMANTAS PURLYS AT THE OPENING OF EXHIBITION "THE UNSEEN LITHUANIA", AT FARMLEIGH GALLERY, 27 JUNE, DUBLIN
Madame Clare McGrath, Chair of the Office of Public Works, Excellences, ladies and gentlemen, members of the Lithuanian community in Ireland, dear friends,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you at the opening of the exhibition “The Unseen Lithuania” by Marius Jovaiša at this remarkable venue of the Farmleigh estate.
This opening coincides with the rapidly approaching start of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and is dedicated to mark this important occasion to my country.
To me EU is not only about important matters of economy and regulation, which predominate in the current circumstances, but also about shared values, circulation of ideas and cultural exchange. I believe that these issues are also crucial to our co-operation in Europe with the view to creating even greater mutual awareness and understanding among European societies.
So we want to tell a story of Lithuania to our European and worldwide partners. I am, therefore, delighted that this particular exhibition will be displayed in Dublin. “The Unseen Lithuania” is an amazing collection of artworks depicting the natural beauty of Lithuania. It was produced in 2007 by acclaimed photographer and entrepreneur Marius Jovaiša, who said after completing his project that he found Lithuanian landscape as impressive as the most exotic places of the world. The exhibition was displayed in many countries across all continents.
I hope this exhibition will also encourage Irish people to explore Lithuania, to visit and see what remarkable journey it has been in the last 23 years since the reestablishment of Independence in 1990 to the EU Presidency.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Farmleigh gallery for hosting and setting up this exhibition. Special thanks to Jurga Rakauskaitė from the gallery, also all her colleagues who contributed to arranging the exhibition.
I would like to thank all of you for attending this event, and wish you a pleasant evening.
- The artist: Marius Jovaiša. While working on this project Marius consulted aviation, geography, ethnology and visual art experts. The highest quality photography equipment was used to take pictures. 19,500 shots were taken, 7,500 kilometres travelled, 88 hours spent airborne and six types of aircraft (from powered paraglider to helicopter) were used.
