Pink Elephant is a photobook I created in Lithuania compiling images of murals from around the nation. While traveling, I was repeatedly struck by the abundance of art in every city I stayed at, with one city even having a tourism map just for finding murals. Most of the murals could be found down side streets on buildings in relative disrepair to the others nearby, however some were purposefully painted on the mainstreets for everyone to enjoy. Midway through my trip, I had the chance to meet three muralists at a gallery opening and began to learn more about the culture and meaning behind these murals. This inspired me to dig even further into every mural I could find and see just what story each one told. By the end of the trip, I photographed around 50 murals between three cities, 15 of which were created by the muralists I met.
The short story of these murals is that many of them were a reaction to the limitations placed on the citizens of Lithuania while occupied by the Soviets until 1991. This colorful rebellion catches the eye of travelers and brings more life to many of the square grey buildings constructed by the Soviets. Many of the murals are purely aesthetic while others express how trapped everyone felt, and the most fun ones are placed in areas where you have to search to find them, such as the hedgehog on a laptop which was hidden behind a potted plant. These murals have become so important to the nation that Kaunus, one of the largest cities in Lithuania, even commissioned three murals to honor famous Jews from the city who were killed during the Holocaust.
