Natalja Varaskiene

In my artistic practice, I explore narratives that emerge from everyday observations and unfold into visual stories through symbols and metaphors. I am interested in how ordinary objects, urban spaces, and fleeting moments can become starting points for visual narratives that exist between reality and imagination. Sometimes a small element — a gesture, a sound, a fragment of architecture, or a random detail — generates an idea and becomes the beginning of an image that gradually develops into a layered composition.

In my practice, I explore drawing and mixed media as a way of connecting observation and imagination. I work with materials such as graphite, watercolour, ink, collage, and mixed media on paper. Working across a variety of materials gives me freedom of artistic expression and allows me to respond to the nature of an idea or story in different ways. Through layering, transparency, and textural contrasts, I explore how an image can shift from observed reality towards a more symbolic visual language.

In my work, I investigate transformation as a method of visual storytelling, alongside themes of memory, time, and the role of women in social space. Through the transformation of forms and the combination of different images and environments, I examine how visual elements can reflect processes of personal and social change. Architectural fragments, plants, and everyday objects become symbolic elements that help reveal the narrative within the image.

My practice has also been influenced by Andrew Wyeth, Jennifer Cantwell, Susan Philipsz, and Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Their approaches to atmosphere, perception, and narrative have shaped my understanding of image-making.

The final work was selected because it brings together the key elements of my research: the transformation of sound from an ambient state into a voice that gains weight, meaning, and the ability to be heard. This idea is explored through the story of the conflict between flower sellers on Grafton Street and a large private property developer. The conflict raises questions of legacy, capitalism, and the right of women “to be” — to occupy and maintain their place in the world. During the process, I explored different symbols, compositional solutions, and ways visual elements interact across the surface of the image, allowing them to form the structure of the narrative