Lilli-Krõõt Repnau “Border Area”

GÜ Gallery 28.08–13.09.2025
Mon–Sat 12–18
The opening 28.08 at 19.00
Fininssage 13.09 at 16.00

The exhibition Border Area invites the viewer to enter a space inspired by landscapes of recent history. Through playful forms and shapes, both hidden and visible boundaries are explored.

At the heart of this project is the concept of the nonument, a neglected or vanishing monument caught between memory and disappearance. These overlooked sites reflect shifting ideologies and contested histories. Printmaking becomes a tool to trace the slow erosion of meaning, capturing transformation through layered impressions and fading marks.

The series explores the remnants of the Soviet legacy: buildings, monuments, and landscapes that disappear, are forgotten, reappear, and merge.

One of the graphic series shown in this exhibition is Making a Nonument, which revisits a monument my friends and I helped renovate as teenagers in 1995, in the small village of Käsmu in northern Estonia. During the Soviet era, Käsmu was a restricted area, heavily controlled. The Deer Monument was left behind by the Soviet military and was in a state of extreme disrepair. The monument we restored still stands today.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.

Graphic design: Mirjam Varik
Thank you: ArtSmart, family Repnau, Indrek Järve

Lilli-Krõõt Repnau (b. 1982) is a printmaker and animator, working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Animation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her artistic practice spans a wide range of media, with a significant focus on recent history.