Laisvydė Šalčiūtė

The (Melo)dramas. (Melo-a)ncholia. Melusina, 2017 

Solo exhibition The (Melo)dramas. (Melo-a)ncholia. Melusina, 2017 

This exhibition tells in images a melodramatic story of a woman (probably a water goddess) connected to other worlds through her transformations. The series was prompted by the Eurasian medieval stories discovered on the Internet. These have a tragic end as the spouse of the heroin fails to keep his promise and loses her for ages. In its universal sense, the plot remains pertinent in our times. The women–men relationships, promises made and broken are eternal themes: even the Greek myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, of Zeus and Semele are veritable (melo)dramas. Typically, these melodramatic female characters naively believe in oaths. My heroine Melusina refuses to remain a hopeless victim and revolts. In the series (Melo)dramas. (Mela-a)ncholia. Melusina I spontaneously visualize the adventures of a modern Melusina as she dives in the vast waters of digital images. This Melusina ironically analyses feelings, made and unmade promises and spectacular mystifications of the consumer society and its tragicomic idiocy.