Literature

In brief: The author meets the poet, journalist and creator of documentaries Enrika Striogaitė all the time – in a cold cinema, behind plastic wine glasses in an exhibition, in a presentation of a book at the door, in an old manor. Being everywhere she still remains unseen.

E. Striogaitė is invited for a written conversation in late autumn, when the time is right to speak about dark and hard things. The interlocutor is asked whether poetry, journalistic articles and documentaries have anything in common.

“Perhaps the common thing is that all these activities need creative skills. (…) Also, all these activities are united by the artistic environment: I write about artists, and if this activity had less of a hurry, there would be more common things between poetry and articles. In general, my nature is that I need variety, a different flow. Then my thoughts line up and encompass more, everything gets along smoothly.”

“I am a poet not because I wrote poems once. Now that I do not write them, I understand that I am a poet most probably. I was lucky that the poems were met reservedly, they were almost unnoticed, that was why I became a poet,” the interlocutor states.

At the moment E.Striogaitė is working at her third documentary. According to her, it is about the artist Raimundas Gailiūnas who lives in Rokiškis, about his recent works, about issues of our world.

Speaking about culture events and culture in general, E.Striogaitė asserts that one cannot get tired of culture. “One may lack culture, while daily chores are really tiring. (…) Meanwhile, one may get sick of low-quality mass PR culture.”

Finally the interlocutor is asked: if the director Enrika Striogaitė created a film about Enrika Striogaitė, where would she film her?

“I do not have fantasy and wish to think about it. I have mentioned that I never tamed my name, any traditions, habits or places. I am here only because I cannot be there still,” the poet and journalist ends.