Gallery Late – “1,5 ha” ISSP School Graduate Exhibition Opening

The exhibition “1,5 ha” explores the forest, a landscape that covers more than half of Latvia, shapes its identity, and remains central to contemporary economic, political, and ecological debates. The title, taken from the average amount of forest hectares per person in Latvia, highlights how this environment is both shared and deeply personal.  Working through photography, fifteen ISSP School graduates approach this topic in diverse ways: returning to the site of a vanished home overtaken by trees and memories, immersing themselves in the forest's history, myths, rituals and communities; running, swimming or performing along its paths, engaging with the materiality and visual qualities of the woodland. Set within the former “MyFitness” space at “Berga Bazaar”, the exhibition guides visitors through an image-forest, unfolding across floors, rooms, and hidden corners.

Artists: Dāvis Drēziņš, Daiga Feldorfa, Inese Gintere, Elizabete Gražule, Raimonds Kiršteins, Ksenija Kumačova, Viktorija Maško, Jānis Mickevičs, Elza Neimane, Santa Helēna Pedele, Ilze Romanovska-Ūdre, Madara Rutkēviča, Anastasia Shneps-Shneppe, Baiba Vītola, Evelīna Vītola. 

Curator: Iveta Gabaliņa

‍

About gallery

ISSP is an independent platform for contemporary photography and visual art that, since 2006, has developed a multi-layered programme in Latvia and internationally, bringing together education, artist exchange, exhibitions, publications, and public events. At the core of its activities is the ISSP School, which offers practice-based learning, masterclasses, and mentoring programmes for photographers and artists, as well as the ISSP Youth School, which since 2021 has fostered teenagers’ interest in photography and visual literacy. Since 2018, the ISSP Gallery in Riga has become an important venue for contemporary photography exhibitions and events, while in recent years ISSP has increasingly focused on the relationship between art and society, supporting socially engaged artistic practices.