The exhibition features reflections by four young artists, or four different quests after the true essence of things, with the artists withdrawing into themselves and carefully questioning the language of their creative medium of choice, i.e., photography. The artists, representing Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Norway, not only share an introspective drive, characteristic of all young people, as well as a desire to understand their position in the global landscape at large, but are also similar in the way they pursue it. They address gnawing questions about their identity and place in the world with the method of a biologist poet. Their attitude suggests a desire to delve deep into things as well as a reverence for one’s surroundings, i.e., nature and culture and, on an individual and collective level, the history of their family and society. Their point of view invites changing the inveterate notions, which have predominated across centuries, of a world order in which everything revolves around the desires and is subjected to the needs of the species homo sapiens. In lieu of a ruthlessly consumptive way of life they have opted to listen to and cooperate with their surroundings, and that’s why they’re learning to speak “the language of flowers”.

Participants: Hedi Jaansoo (EE), Ieva Maslinskaitė (LT), Agate Tūna (LV), Daniel Vincent Hansen (NO)
Curators: Inga Brūvere (LV) and Marie Sjøvold (NO)
Text: Aiga Dzalbe (LV)
Image: Agate Tūna, from the series Pond Hous, 2021 - 2022