All About Photo Awards 2016

This picture was taken in May 2004 and it represents the evacuation of an Illegal outpost near the west bank settlement of Mitzpe Yitzhar. The outpost consisted of a single house, but when settlers were informed about the imminent application of the court order, thoUnited Statesnds of ''hill youth'' came from all over the west bank to try to stop the bulldozer from reaching the site. For about six hours the settlers opposed the border police and attempted to stop the bulldozer by lying in front of it. Although the tension was quite high at times, the violence remained contained, as the stakes were merely symbolic. Eventually the brick house was destroyed, and rebuilt the next day.

Through photomontage I am exploring the narrative that emerges between subject, space and time. The work reflects various photographs that I have taken merged with others from my family's albums. I find myself inspired by the stories that come in to focus when we collocate the medium of photography with 21st century technological practices, the cultural influence of our country's migration west, and the personal history of family. Each blended piece possesses its own original story, in addition to insights about representation, fabrication, and visual language.

In creating this project I have found that they are not only my family's stories, but are stories that exist throughout the west and beyond. They are stories of perseverance, pride, struggle, life and death. They are human stories intertwined in a majestic landscape.

I've always had a thing for bars. The more marginal the better. I'm mostly drawn to rural or urban outliers- raw, dilapidated joints that evoke an earlier, grittier era. Humble, solitary structures shrouded in loneliness and isolation, yet miraculously, as if blessed by some divine patron, still open. A refuge where a hard-edged world is numbed and softened by alcohol and dim lighting.

Defiant vestiges of the past, the bar always seems the last to go. After the grocery store, the lumberyard and the barbershop long ago surrendered to the future and shut their doors for the final time, the bar stayed on. Slumped alone on the edge of a discarded town, its neon spills out onto the asphalt and burns through the night.

Inside, the beer is cold, and the jukebox stocked with George Jones and dirges from an irretrievable past.

Once we find ourselves on a beach we start acting in an absolutely different manner. If the same rules were applied beyond the borders of the beach people would care less about what others may think about them. This in turn would show how different, interesting and beautiful we truly are.

I am Lithuanian artist, who, in 2010, decided to stop being an architect and try something new - photography. This led to my series of wind-swept portraits, "Blow Job", a new interpretation of Van Gogh's self-portrait and a documentary photo project of beach sunbathers called "Comfort Zone".

I am very much interested in comparison of different thing that help me understand how media, environment or various conditions may affect viewers perception about some certain themes and things.

Aboard#39. Port of Katakolo, Greece, 2015 (Ionian Sea). People in the line to get on board after the excursion at the Olympia greek temples.

The photo is part of the Aboard series (2012-still ongoing): a visual journey to witness the fascinating anonymity of passengers and crew members living the temporary small, brilliant cities on the sea that are the cruise ships.