Paulius Petraitis is an artist‑theorist and independent curator based in Vilnius whose work interrogates photography’s expanded field, algorithmic culture, and networked meaning-making. He holds a PhD from the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute (2024), where his research examined the shifting semantics of the digital image.

Petraitis has significantly shaped the curatorial landscape of screen‑based photography in the Baltic region. He conceived Blog Reblog (2013–2014) and Sraunus (2010–2013), among the first exhibitions to address online photographic culture, and in 2015 co-curated This Is It/Now — the first art show on Snapchat. His recent curatorial work includes the multi-platform project New Tools in Photography: From Google to Algorithm (2018), the collaborative Vorsprung durch Technik (2021), and On Photographic Beings (2020) at the Latvian National Museum of Art. His artistic research has been presented internationally, including at The Photographers’ Gallery, the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Tromsø Kunstforening, and the Riga Photography Biennial.

A core strand of his practice is writing and publishing as both medium and research methodology: through a wide spectrum of formats — from do‑it‑yourself zines to rigorously produced artist’s books — he examines how images, technologies, and modes of distribution co‑construct meaning. Working under his own name and formerly as Paul Paper, Petraitis has authored publications including the AI-focused Second Chance (2024), A man with dark hair and a sunset in the background (2020), and Contemporary Photography (2013). He also co-edited And Then It Fades (Away) (2024), a bilingual survey of contemporary Lithuanian photography. His books are held in major collections, including the libraries of MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MACBA, the ICP, Yale University, Danish Design Museum, and the Clark Art Institute.