INTRODUCING PAUL PAPER
I was born in small and strange country of Lithuania in 1985. I grew up during turbulent times and was taken to the village during the tragic events of January. Otherwise I had a very happy childhood, spending most of my summers at my grandparents, getting lost in their garden, visiting forests with mushroom encyclopedia and climbing, what at a time looked, extremely tall cherry trees. My teenage years were marked by enthusiasms of a restless young country bursting with new opportunities. Late 1990s and early 2000s were times when people who had ideas were very welcome to fulfill them. Some crazy things were produced during this time. My aunt gave me her old Ricoh when I was 14 and I started taking pictures with it. Two years later my mother bought me an SLR and I got more into it, started looking at other’s works and experimenting with printing/processing. I liked photography because it was seemingly effortless and for one who doesn’t have too much patience it seemed like an ideal medium. I was interested in banality of everyday and the miracle of that banality. I guess my life changed in a way that I am at the part of the road where I am very conscious about an act of photo-taking. I am conscious of scenes I deem to be “photographic”, so my looking have changed. Therefore my interests have shifted a little bit, now my newest projects are not photography so much as about photography. The most amazing thing is to be able to meet so many great people. I also feel lucky to curate some of my favorite photographers and friends works. I enjoy working with people I like and it gives me pleasure and stimulus. This picture was taken when I was visiting two of my good friends: Nerijus Rimkus and Ugne Straigyte in Marijampole, Lithuania where they used to live. It is much more spontaneous than it looks like, we were outside Nerijus’ house and the ball with funny face was lying on the ground so we started playing with it a bit. There’s so many photographers I love. Most of them are part of Sraunus project.
