Piligrimages. Požerė.

Photographs allow us to clearly feel the passage of time. What a photographer captures in an image is, in the next moment, already part of the past. This is precisely why Susan Sontag called photography "a message from the past." The American writer believed that photographs always bring about a feeling of melancholy because the reality conveyed in the images belongs to the past and is thus irretrievably lost.
In Romualdas Požerskis' opinion, it is vital for photographers to be able to capture periods of significant change. He employed this ability in the creation religious celebrations in Lithuanian villages from 1974 to 1993. The author notes that significant change occurred during this period. At the start of his work photographing the series about the piligrimages celebrations, people arrived at church gatherings by horse-drawn carriage, and later – by automobile and on motorcycles. Such small details may have appeared insignificant at the time, but today they are particularly important for the photographer.
Požerskis cites the harmony between a documentary style and a reflection on human relationships as the element he values most in his own work. This twofold value of Požerskis' best works is revealed in an early photograph of the Lithuanian piligrimages series. A photograph entitled Piligrimages. Požerė, created in 1976, shows a group of people of various ages enjoying a meal in the open air. The photograph's composition conveys an essential trait of village life, one no longer known by many city dwellers: the feeling of community. The work also speaks of a close tie between man and nature, while a carriage immortalized in the background is a symbol of the continuity of a traditional lifestyle.
To be sure, only the passage of time can reveal the importance and meaning of such details captured in these photographs. What several decades ago may have appeared as a typical village festival today captures our attention as an image of disappearing traditions, social relations and a way of life. Požerskis himself best describes the impact of time on photography thus: time lends the perfect taste to both cognac and social photography.