Photo exhibition "Jazz from the front row"

At the Vilnius Jazz festival, the first row of the auditorium is always reserved for photographers. This year, a group of them is presenting a joint exhibition in the foyer of the Old Theatre of Vilnius. It features moments and atmosphere from the Vilnius Jazz festival captured by Vytautas Suslavičius, Daiva Klovienė, Sigitas Kondratas, Vilma Dobilaitė, Vygintas Skaraitis, and Greta Skaraitienė. 
The exhibition is curated by photographer Greta Skaraitienė. 

Vytautas Suslavičius: “My first jazz photos were taken with bloodsucking mosquitoes by the Neris River, when Rock March was sweeping across Lithuania. Petras Vyšniauskas was playing his horn there. It didn’t end there. The sequel was even more serious: it wasn’t just a passing phase... Moreover, I ‘imprisoned’ myself in jazz. For life. I’ve been sitting here for 26 years.”

Without Suslavičius, it is impossible to imagine not only Vilnius Jazz, but also Kaunas Jazz, Birštonas Jazz, and Vilnius Mama Jazz festivals and their photo events. Among the numerous albums created by this photographer, more than one is dedicated to jazz. Suslavičius studied physics at Vilnius University, taught at Elektrėnai Secondary School, and later worked at the Lithuanian Power Plant for more than two decades, living in Elektrėnai. Throughout this time, the artistically-minded physicist never parted with his camera. In 2018, his contributions to Lithuanian jazz were recognized with the Vilnius Jazz Award.

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Vilma Dobilaitė: “I like the Vilnius Jazz festival because it brings together free spirits and is a place where new ideas are generated. For me, it’s a space where jazz sounds different – bolder, more unexpected, more alive.”

Every year, Dobilaitė travels to the festival from Spain. In the Vilnius Jazz she feels like home where she discovers something new every time. Vilma is not only a photographer but also a museum curator. She heads the ValenciaPhoto photography festival in Spain.

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Daiva Klovienė: “Photographing jazz concerts captivated me. When I look through the lens of my camera in the dim light of the hall, the performer on stage comes so close that I feel like I can touch his soul. When the music strikes a chord within me, I forget everything else in the world, as if I merge with the sound, the performer, the instruments, and experience the emotions pouring out from the stage. Sometimes it seems that by allowing themselves to be photographed, musicians let you in so close that you can see their ‘nakedness’, their unfeigned feelings. After all, on stage they sometimes experience almost agony, the peak of passion, and you are the observer ‘through the keyhole’. I feel like their special confidante. It’s as if I’m touching something sacred, infinitely intimate.”

Klovienė is a professional psychologist and psychotherapist. She began taking photographs at jazz concerts after meeting her husband, the late composer and musician Algirdas Klova, who wrote articles on music, which Daiva illustrated with her photographs, mostly in the weekly newspaper 7 Meno dienos (7 Days of Art). She discovered connections between photography and therapy. For her, every encounter with a person is like a work of art, with a beginning, a development of the theme, and an ending. Conversations, like photography, are unpredictable and impossible to rehearse. 

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Sigitas Kondratas: “I don’t know how to photograph jazz concerts – I photograph jazz, the moods it creates. When I photograph, I jazz along with the musicians.”

Kondratas is a member of the Lithuanian Photographers’ Union. He became interested in jazz while still at school, when a neighbour invited him to listen to ‘different’ music. Since then, he has been unable to live without jazz. So, he started taking photos at concerts, not on commission, but for himself. That’s why he can take great photos of supporting musicians during celebrity performances, as long as they play from the heart and spread good energy. He doesn’t care about authority; his photos are not portraits of performers, but of jazz music.

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Greta Skaraitienė: “Jazz is the music of free people. It infects all listeners with a sense of freedom, especially photographers sitting so close to the stage. At the Vilnius Jazz festival, I fell in love with photographing sounds and discovered my own style. If I manage to convey jazz in my photos, I am happy. Jazz captivated me, and I cannot imagine my life without it. That special atmosphere in the front row of the hall entices me to return to the Vilnius Jazz festival again and again.”

G. Skaraitienė graduated in photography from the then Vilnius Higher School of Technology in 1990 and has been actively working as a photojournalist and photo artist since 1993.

Since 2005, Skaraitienė’s works have been selected for the Lithuanian Press Photography Finalists’ Exhibition every year. In 2022, her work won the Lithuanian Press Photography 2022 award in the Entertainment category and received the Golden Frame award. Her work Jazz was selected for the project Menas be stogo (Art Without a Roof) in Vilnius. 

The artist began photographing jazz in 2015 at the Vilnius Jazz festival. She has organized jazz exhibitions „Vilnius Jazz“ portretai (Vilnius Jazz Portraits), Džiazo sluoksniai (Layers of Jazz), and, together with her husband Vygintas, Užstrigę džiaze (Stuck in Jazz). Greta’s exhibitions travel through Lithuanian galleries, cultural centres, and libraries.

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Vygintas Skaraitis: “You can hear better from the sixth row, but you can see better from the first. It’s great fun to listen to music and take photos at the same time.” 

Skaraitis is a professional photographer who has been actively working as a photojournalist since 1986. His works have been nominated for awards in the Lithuanian Press Photography competition on numerous occasions and selected for the Lithuanian Press Photography Finalists’ exhibitions. Vygintas developed a passion for jazz photography in 1991, during jazz evenings organized at the Teachers’ House. Together with his wife Greta, he organized a jazz exhibition entitled Užstrigę džiaze (Stuck in Jazz).