The exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds" at the National Gallery of Art (29 April – 28 August 2022) calls for reflection on the relationships between difficult pasts and their impact and presence today through the perspective of a shared history—opening dialogue, forging connections and foregrounding solidarities between the different difficult histories that are often perceived as incompatible or in competition with each other. In these brief video interviews, curators Ieva Astahovska, Margaret Tali, Eglė Mikalajūnė and artists Ülo Pikkov, Jaana Kokko, Vika Eksta, Paulina Pukytė, Anastasia Sosunova, Eléonore de Montesquiou, Lia Dostlieva and Andrii Dostliev, Zuzanna Hertzberg, Laima Kreivytė, Quinsy Gario, Matīss Gricmanis and Ona Juciūtė talk about the histories, stories and memories which are behind their works. These are body memories, neglected women and queer histories, and the Soviet past that still lingers around as shadows or ghostly presence, and the global scale and interconnectedness of the colonial histories.

Interviews by Austėja Tavoraitė and Paulius Andriuškevičius
April 2022

Curator Ieva Astahovska

Curator Margaret Tali 

Curator Eglė Mikalajūnė 

Ülo Pikkov—Body Memory

Jaana Kokko—Roma Mountain

Vika Eksta—Conversations with Dad 

Paulina Pukytė—Shadows / Ghosts

 Anastasia Sosunova—Coders

Eléonore de Montesquiou—33 Monsters

Lia Dostlieva and Andrii Dostliev—I still feel sorry when I throw away food… Grandma used to tell me stories about Holodomor

Zuzanna Hertzberg—Volunteers for Freedom

Laima Kreivytė—Mortification. In Search of the Black Book

Quinsy Gario and Mina Ouaourist—We Offered Maurice Dates, Grasshoppers and Water Pt. 2

Matīss Gricmanis and Ona Juciūtė—Mermaid