Rivers will Flow Forever

Artists Monika Zaltauskaite Grasiene & Mantas Talmantas Rivers run around our planet like blood vessels in the human body. Our Earth and our bodies are two habitats that need to be preserved, protected and cared for. The river basins depicted in the work represent a complex system that we cannot see with the naked eye, just as the vascular system within the human body is a complex network that pulsates and flows in very individual ways. The history, flow and direction of each person and each river is unique and unrepeatable. The red thread in the work stands for the thread of life, which symbolises a way out of a difficult situation (the 'thread of Ariadne' in Greek mythology). The artist Monika Zaltauskaite Grasiene studied textile at Vilnius Art Academy (Lithuania), Esmod school in Paris (France) and Bergen Art Academy (Norway). Since 2009 she has been Associate Professor of Vilnius Art Academy, Textile Department. Since 2011 the artist is a member of Kaunas biennial board, as well as its creator. Works by Monika Žaltauskaitė Grašienė were exhibited at The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester among such artists as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry and Ghada Amer, in an exhibition entitled Art_Textile, curated by prof. Jennifer Harris. Mantas Talmantas is an educator as well as artist and film maker. Talmantas specialises in fields of animation, illustration, 3D animation, photogrammetry and VR. Graduated from Vilnius art academy and international school of new media in Lubeck, where he studied photography, documentary filmmaking and media technologies. His first VR film was screened in FOFEST, New York 2016. The prototype used for this NFT is a digital Jacquard Weaving from silk and polyester, 210 x 175 (x2) cm., 2019.