Five Latvian photographers (Arnis Balčus, Reinis Hofmanis, Alnis Stakle, Iveta Vaivode and Ilze Vanaga) and five scholars (Sergei Kruk, Klāvs Sedlenieks, Kārlis Vērpe, Laine Kristberga and Ivars Austers) have co-created a unique interdisciplinary study of contemporary Latvian landscape. Since 2013, they have worked in pairs (scholar/photographer) to create five semantically linked series of photographs and five essays, approaching a specific topic through both the photographic narrative and text. The overarching theme of the book is landscape, which is construed as a surface for contemplative viewing, a stage for a quaint or ordinary event and, beyond any doubt, a catalyst for an individual’s becoming who they are only when embraced by a particular landscape.

The particular exhibition in the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design carries on the Amber Road in Riga exhibition series, envisaged by the European Culture Capital 2014 programme. These exhibitions expose a different vision and comprehension of the origin and history of amber, traditions of its usage and application.

The aim of the exhibition is to research amber as one of the symbols of identity for Latvians and to show manifestations of it from the beginning of the 20th century until today, in a new light. The exposition uncovers the concept of amber in many aspects – amber as an art object, as a design element, as a brand name, as a place name, as a personal name phenomenon, as a souvenir, as the inspirer of literary texts and so on.

Our dear friend and photographer Māris Maskalāns in photo series called … Read More »

The Victory Park embodies the historical trauma of a small Baltic nation. Once built to symbolise Latvian independence, now the park together with the Victory monument stands for Russian chauvinism, the Russian-speaking community, and the Soviet occupation. The monument looms over the skyline of Latvian capital Riga, every day reminding of the controversial issues it signifies. It constitutes an element in formation of the Latvian identity, which is often constructed in juxtaposition to the Other, the Other being that of the Other sex or Other ethnicity. In this body of work the images echo with the historical events, political contradictions, and the author’s personal vision in contemporary landscapes of the park. These reflections are filled with melancholy, drama, and fear, creating a subjective look to a sensitive place in the Latvian capital.

Exhibition specs

• White ash-tree moulding • Archival Quality … Read More »

In 2012, Iveta Vaivode(1979) went to her grandmother Antoņina’s village, Pilcene, in the Latgale region of Latvia. She was searching for the mythical place she imagined when looking through photographs of her grandmother’s youth. “For the most part, our lives aren’t connected anymore to one special place, a physical strip of land or old house our grandparents built. The ability to travel from one side of the world to the other, dynamically changing places of residence, and often travelling virtually as well as physically, has made our identities both more blurred and more unified. Getting to know the people of Pilcene, I had an odd feeling. Although they were strangers to me, I recognized something very familiar, but forgotten in them – the women of my family. Especially when Anna quietly asked me to listen to the singing of the … Read More »

The exhibition of works by Mary Ellen Mark (1940, USA) presents a classic documentary photography tradition in which photojournalism and subjective documentary align to and overlap each other. Her best-known series focus on socially vulnerable groups of people.

In terms of plots and themes, Mark’s works hint at the socio-critical perspective of her idol, William Eugene Smith. Formally, the works follow in the footsteps of Henri Cartier-Bresson and the principles of his decisive moment, in which it is easy to spot traces of a traditional art education – Mark studied painting, art history and photojournalism at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professionally, she has been working as a photographer since the mid-1960s, and has been publishing books since 1974 about cultural differences, the homeless, the ill and other fate-stricken people. Mark has collaborated with New York Times Magazine, Life, Paris-Match, The New Yorker, … Read More »

The Riga 2014 event “Riga Self/portraits” offers a portrait of contemporary Riga through the eyes of its residents and artists. Hundreds of Rigans from various neighbourhoods have created self-portraits for the exhibition, while local and international artists present new portrait series and multimedia work.
Participating artists: Marcos Lopez (AR), Iveta Vaivode, Andris Kozlovskis, Andrejs Strokins, Kaspars Goba, Aija Bley (LV), Vesa Aaltonen (FI), Vincen Beeckman (BE), Eva Voutsaki (GR/UK), Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad (UK).

More about the project – http://rigaselfportraits.com

In 2011, the photographer Iveta Vaivode travelled east from her home in Riga, Latvia, to Pilcene, her family’s ancestral village. Although only one living relative remained in the tiny settlement, Vaivode found it strangely familiar. “Expressions, movements, even ways of thinking. I already knew so much of it, because I could see it in my mother and grandmother,” she said.

Vaivode returned to the village for each of the next three years, taking photographs for a series that she called “Somewhere on a Disappearing Path.” The project, which was recently awarded a prize by Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies, began as a family album but, over time, became an imaginative record of a disappearing community. (Many of the young people in Pilcene have left to find work in Western Europe; a disproportionate number of children and elderly remain.) Alexa Dilworth, … Read More »

“Abroad. Case 2” in the The Mūkusala Art Salon presented works of Latvian art photographers, that have been created in the same geographical area as the artists of the earlier periods.

The works of classics of Latvian photography Egons Spuris and Jānis Kreicbergs will trace the specific role of reportage as source of visual information in the Soviet period. The photo series of new Latvian artists Ieva Epnere, Ivars Grāvlejs, Reinis Hofmanis and Alnis Stakle – socially critical and anthropological investigations of landscape and environment – will outline the various approaches of contemporary art.

Almost whole exhibition room was made by fineArtPrint.lv, except of Ivars Grāvlejs who had a video installation.

Exhibition specs

• Ieva Epnere – luster type photo paper, shallow L-box moulding, honey-tone stained ash tree, mounted on 3mm dibond • Reinis Hofmanis – Epson Hot Press Natural paper, GroGlass non-reflective … Read More »

The central event of Riga Photo Month – an exhibition featuring the work of Baltic and Nordic artists with a focus on finding their place in the contemporary space that surrounds us. At the same time, the show examines current trends in photography as an art practice.

The exhibition, showcasing artists from the Nordic and Baltic countries, focuses on people searching for their place in the contemporary space that surrounds us – the interaction between private and public, local and global, mental and physical.

The modern economy, and its process of constant growth, urbanization and globalization increasingly call for more self-awareness, balance and a return to core values. Private space becomes more important.

Ourselves and contemporary space – place. Who are we and how do we see ourselves in the space around us? How is our interaction with the space we call … Read More »

French writer Maurice Blanchot once wrote: “Desire remains in relation to the distantness of the star, entreating the sky, appealing to the universe”. Referring to this Hirohisa Koike explains: “The title of this series “Desiderium” is desire in Latin, which refers to the star (Latin: siderium). Blanchot writes about this desire as “impossible” which remains as such. After studying photography for seven years including PhD, I noticed that ideas for images or strategies for images didn’t make sense to me anymore. Taking photographs should be meaningful. So I was focusing on my daily life and taking photos of its fragments. When I was in Latvia in 2013, I met a girl from Riga, and fell in love with her at the first glance. She had a boyfriend and it seemed impossible to develop the relationship anyway. My feelings for her … Read More »