Jurga Užkurnytė

Jurga Užkurnytė is a contemporary Lithuanian artist based in Vilnius. In November 2021 she painted "Prieglobsčio link" ("Towards the Sanctuary") on an electrical transformer building in Tibet Square, in the Užupis district — a mural dedicated to her late friend Jurga Ivanauskaitė (1961-2007), a Lithuanian writer, painter and traveller renowned for her support of the Tibetan cause. The composition borrows directly from Ivanauskaitė's drawings, weaving together Tibetan monks, birds, flowers and Himalayan landscapes. A Tree of Life faces the apple tree planted by the Dalai Lama in 2018, while a skull on the opposite wall stands before the "Mandala" sculpture, and Buddha's all-seeing eyes watch from the upper level.