During the summer of 2019 I was able to visit my family in Lithuania for the first time. As a young girl, my grandmother had promised to take me to meet everyone and to see her birthplace. My grandmother had fled Lithuania as a refugee in the 40's, but still returned every summer to her homeland. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed before she could take me. I have been raised within the American-Lithuanian community in Chicago, but I had always longed to see this beautiful country my grandmother was so fond of. This is a photo story documenting my personal pilgrimage to Lithuania as a young woman; discovering my roots and its unique culture as one of the oldest countries in the world. This journey was a personal one, but its themes of love, family, and personal discovery are ones I hope many can relate to.
The view atop Merkines Piliakalnis, a manbuilt hill used for warfare ages ago.
