Lithuanian photographer Agne Gintalaite shows us that even a simple garage door can serve as the perfect muse for an entire project. Within her Beauty Remains series, the artist documents the colorful entrances that have stood intact for decades, while allowing time to leave its mark. “On a recent trip to the IKEA that has recently opened up on the edge of Vilnius, I was surprised to see a sprawling garage town nearby,” Gintalaite says. “There I stood on Prusu Street with 500 garage doors staring at me, a relic from the past inviting me to engage with a world in which there was no IKEA, no conspicuous consumption, and cars broke down. I accepted their challenge. This is how this series of photographs of garage doors was born.”
In capturing these structural artifacts, the artist wants to illustrate their significance. “Beautifully painted, these doors do not need be explained to the beholder,” adds the photographer. “It is the fascinating play of colour and texture that I attempted to capture with my camera. But in doing that I found myself documenting human dignity: the dignity of the garage owners, elderly, definitely not rich people, who, by sticking to their property, garages, literally maintain their ground in an urban landscape on which big businesses increasingly make claim.” With this goal in mind, Gintalaite has preserved this unique form of Lithuanian artwork. Thanks to her, the garage door’s beauty will forever live on through her documentary snapshots.
