After Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibition “Like a Hammer” at Seattle Art Museum (2019), I was inspired to continue exploring more deeply the pagan aspects of my Baltic culture. Gibson explores his own Native American heritage: his works include large and mid-sized figurative objects, text-based wall hangings, a selection of illustrious Everlast beaded punching bags, painted works on rawhide and canvas, as well as videos. He remixes his work to “reveal a distinct visual vocabulary that comes up in his multi-faceted identity”. This really spoke to me, as I continue to identify what it means to be both deeply rooted in pagan themes (nature) while dabbling in the inevitable spaces of fundamental biology (science, medicine): what can be perhaps perceived as the old world and the new colliding. Codes exist in natural places—in cellular (genetic) structures and realms. I wanted to experiment with this in my work. #isolation #nature #biology #virus #crowns #hertitage #Baltic #pagan #Lithuanian