ALL APOLOGIES

In her photography, Gerikaitė grapples with the dialectic of privacy, not as an abstraction but as a lived confrontation. Her images—deliberately blurred or fragmented through obscured faces and cropped features—are not passive representations; they are acts of rebellion against the presumption of control inherent in the medium. They begin with an acknowledgment of photography’s capacity to dominate, to assert power, yet transform into something far more intimate, a quiet surrender to a vulnerability that reveres rather than diminishes the subject. This evolution is not accidental, but a testament to her refusal to merely possess her subjects through the lens, instead turning that gaze inward, questioning the very nature of observation and what it means to see another.

Her work spans realms of human performance and politics: teenage beauty pageants, rhythmic gymnastics, and political gatherings. Yet, these are not simply subjects for exploration; they are sites where ritual, formality, and the atmosphere of performativity are dissected. The subjects are not just people but embodied rituals, each gesture an affirmation of their existence. Gerikaitė, herself a model, has placed her own image in the public eye— inviting the very gaze she often questions. Through her Instagram archive, she unearths the constant flux of identity, layering images of past selves with present reflections. These images are not mere nostalgia but an ongoing negotiation between her constructed self and the vulnerability of its exposure, where trends once fleeting now act as markers of a deeper existential transformation. Her engagement with social media is an act of archiving, not just of herself but of others—capturing the subtleties of identity, shifting relationships between subject and observer.

Chantelle lives in Lazdynėliai, Vilnius. Gerikaitė discovered her through another Instagram model in 2022 and invited her for a photoshoot two years later, on July 12, 2024. The shoot took place at Chantelle’s home and lasted two hours. A second photoshoot was scheduled for December 9, 2024, also at her home, and lasted approximately two and a half hours. During this session, Chantelle introduced specific props and scenarios she wanted to explore. She also requested that Gerikaitė create a few images for her personal use, specifying that they should be in focus (without the usual blur) and free of color filters, which Gerikaitė typically uses. A third photoshoot was planned for January but was canceled by Chantelle, who later rescheduled and invited Gerikaitė to join her for her 23rd birthday celebration on January 24, 2025.

On Pinterest, Chantelle has curated what she calls a digital art museum, where she posts images from her life (pinterest.com/baddtrip). Gerikaitė’s images of Chantelle are now interspersed within Chantelle’s feed, uncredited and sometimes edited.

For the last two years, Gerikaitė has been compiling a parallel archive consisting of screenshots of images posted by Chantelle on social media.