This work is not typical of the artist's works in terms of the way it is executed (the medium) –Laisvydė Šalčiūtė mainly creates paintings using her own technique. She is one of the most active artists in contemporary Lithuanian art scene, creating paintings, drawings, prints, artistic objects, installations, photographies and literary texts.
This particular work – Specially for You – is a doll handmade by the artist, wearing the artist's own clothes. The original work – canvas, embroidery, artist’s clothes and shoes, chair, 140x60x100 – was created in 2009. The work can be described as a feminist protest – by using her own clothes as a doll, the artist speaks about the cult and objectification of women's bodies, their constant attempts to please, and their desire to be beautiful. The artist tells stories about our body, one of the key vehicles we use to express our identity. They are also about daily 'change of dress' in an attempt to live up to the socially 'acceptable'. It is also about clichéd female images which 'occupy' our thoughts and start shaping us from inside while we remain unaware of it. They are reflected on our appearance, sometimes to the extent of turning us into toys stripped of any individuality.
Šalčiūtė graduated from Vilnius M.K. Čiurlionis Art School and holds PhD, MA and BA in Visual Arts from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. The artist held over 40 personal exhibits and took part in over a hundred group shows in Lithuania and abroad. She was awarded the Lithuanian Government Culture and Art Award and was a finalist of Luxemburg Art Prize in 2021. The museum of Palazzo Ducale di Mantova (Ducal Palace), in a collaboration with Art Verona Art Fair, chose Laisvydė Šalčiūtė as the best proposal at ArtVerona fair in 2018. Her exhibition Coming Out was held in Mantova museum in 2019.
Her works can be found in the collections of the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica in Rome, Lithuanian Art Museum in Vilnius, Lewben Art Foundation in Vilnius, MO Museum in Vilnius, National M.K. Čiurlionis Art Museum in Kaunas.
