Evelina Paukštytė. Death Under the Lilacs

From May 5 to 30, 2026, the Vilnius Graphic Art Centre exhibition room ‘+’ will host an exhibition by Evelina Paukštytė titled ‘Death Under the Lilacs’. The opening will take place on 5 May 2026 at 6 pm.

This exhibition reflects on the beauty of transience, the fragility of life, and the inevitability of death. The lilac bush – a symbol of bloom, often associated with rebirth, becomes here a subtle backdrop for existential ruminations, where the end of life is not the opposite of life, but rather its natural continuation. Death Under the Lilacs is a dreamlike wandering, in which reality merges with inner imagery, while the end of life turns into a poetic landscape saturated with symbols. When time stops, dreaming begins.

The video work featured in the exhibition, a slow observation of a lilac bush, comes to act like a portal into hypnotic silence, where time dissolves. In the accompanying paintings, figures, objects, and spaces turn into surreal allegories of fragile existence. Here, the lilac is not just a plant – it stands for memory, dreaming, perhaps even the last stop before passing.

The meaning of the expression ‘death under the lilacs’ is poetically open and multi-layered. It is a metaphorical, symbolic connection that evokes associations and emotional states, rather than indicating a direct meaning.

The blooming of lilacs is short, almost ephemeral. This phrase can refer to the inevitability of death even in the most beautiful moment, when everything seems alive and full of vigour. It is a reminder that every blooming contains the seed of decay. Death is not a limit. It is a state. An interruption. Slow dissipation in the scent of the lilacs.

This exhibition is a silent encounter with inevitability. With that part of life that we push into the shadows, but which is always near at hand. Only this time it does not scare, but urges us to look. To look closer. To accept. Maybe even to come to terms with it.

Evelina Paukštytė

Evelina Paukštytė is a graphic artist, painter, illustrator, and a ceramicist. She graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a degree in graphic art in 2008. She makes paintings, watercolours and 3D models, and has illustrated a children’s book. Evelina has held thirteen solo exhibitions, received the Juozas Zikaras Prize (2001), and won the Audience Select Artist award at the ArtVilnius art fair in 2023 and 2025.