GELES
ALGIRDAS EKUS
Geles, flowers in Lithuanian, features an extremely rare series of pictures taken by photographer Algirdas ekus in the 1980s. The series is comprised of ten portraits of flowers originally commissioned as decor for an institutional building in the then Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Yet, decoration wasnt their only purpose. In reality, the flowers were intended to lift the spirit of the workers, making them happier and more productive. Expectations that ekus images were unable to fulfill. Not finding them encouraging enough, the authorities in charge deemed the photographs unfit for the task and rejected them. And thats how they ended up forgotten under the photographers couch, where they remained for the last 40 years, until now. Eventually, it is due to their quiet, dramatic character that these photographs outlived their socialist duty and reached our days. Never exhibited or published before, this book presents the complete series of rejected flowers, along with a brief account of the episode written by ekus. Sorrowful, yet strikingly erotic, these images ultimately belong to today: a time unfit for the uplifting.
