Aliona Šalaj

Aliona Šalaj is a psychologist, researcher, and writer. She earned her PhD in psychology from Vilnius University. After working in the field for several years, she turned to cultural research. She has written art criticism, collaborated with the media education and research centre Meno avilys, taught, and completed a research placement at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University. Since 2023, she has been a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). She is a recipient of the Visual Art Criticism Award and the Skirmantas Valiulis Prize for photography criticism. Across all of her work, her focus centres on art, feminism, and motherhood.  

Šalaj’s essays are distinguished by their unique combination of personal reflection and academic inquiry. Raising four children permeates her scholarly writing, while a broader theoretical context serves as a tool for reflecting on her own experience of motherhood. 

At April,  she will be completing the final edits to her forthcoming book, With a Harsh Gaze, due to be published in autumn 2026. This autoethnographic work raises uncomfortable questions about phenomena traditionally considered unproblematic: family photographs, personal memory, and the balance between family and career.