School is My Home

Virgilijus Šonta’s (1952-1992) series introduced in the publication Mokykla – mano namai (School Is My Home) was created in the schools for special needs children in the period 1980 to 1983. These photographs were first introduced to the public during the 1983 contest Gintaro Kraštas for the Baltic countries in Šiauliai. Virgilijus Šonta was awarded the main prize.

However, the representatives from Moscow did not approve the series that depicted topics inconvenient to the political regime of the time. A courageous move by Šonta to make sensitive topics that were concealed in the society public cemented his position as a persistent, rebellious artist who refused to play by the rules of others.