The Baltic Way 35
:
Exhibition Design & Photo Restoration
:
Embassies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Helsinki
:
Cultural History / Public Memory
Exhibition design and historical photo curation for a commemorative installation celebrating the 35th anniversary of the unique 670 km Baltic Way human chain.
Organized by the Baltic embassies in Helsinki, this project required synthesizing diverse archival sources into a unified visual system.
Working with archival materials provided by the lead curator, I performed the final selection of photographs and proposed to design an 11-meter horizontal timeline spanning Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This timeline documented key milestones from 1939 to 2024, tracking the region’s journey toward independence and democracy.
A major technical focus was the meticulous restoration and advanced digital upscaling of 1980s-era film photography. This was essential to ensure that the grain-heavy archival shots could meet the strict printing requirements for the massive 3×1.5m panels.
The design simplified a complex political narrative, connecting broad historical facts to the shared and personal memories of the two million people standing together to form the longest human chain ever on that historical day.