Private: Contemporary Photography from Latvia. Moscow, Russia

Exhibition Private: Contemporary Photography from Latvia (Private: Latvijas mūsdienu fotogrāfijas izstāde; Private: выставка современной латвийской фотографии), Contemporary Art Center Winzavod, Moscow, Russia, February 19–March 15, 2008.

Artists: Arnis Balčus, Gunārs Binde, Zenta Dzividzinska, Roman Korovin, Inta Ruka, Alnis Stakle, Vilnis Vitoliņš. Curator: Alise Tifentale.

The exhibition was part of The Seventh International Photography Month in Moscow Photobiennale 2008 and the the festival Season of Latvian Culture in Russia.

Dzividzinska exhibited a new commission, a series Servitude created especially for this exhibition. Fourteen black and white photographs made between 2002 and 2007 depict the artist’s garden in various seasons, while the title offers a twofold comment on land ownership. On one hand, it points to the fact that everyone who owns a garden is also its servant. On the other, servitude is a legal term that describes a shared pathway that cuts across the artist’s garden and thus annihilates the concept of ownership, sovereignty, and privacy.

Thematically, Servitude belongs to the larger series House Near the River because it focuses on the artist’s home in Iecava and the numerous human and natural dramas that have taken place there throughout the years. The garden in Iecava obtained a special meaning for Dzividzinska after her husband Juris Tifentals’ passing in 2001. Tending the garden as well as documenting its life became a therapeutic, introspective practice for the artist.

Read more about the exhibition Private and its curatorial concept on Alise Tifentale’s website.

Download the exhibition leaflet here.