From November 25 to January 18, 2027, the "Path of Freedom" exhibition will feature the personal exhibition "Border" by photographer Reiņš Hofmanis, which focuses on the territory of Latvia's eastern border, its landscape and people's everyday life.
Exhibition opening: November 25 at 15.00
Brīvības street 2, in the exposition "Brīvības cejs"
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the border has turned from a relatively invisible administrative line into a permanently guarded and fortified space, where fences, observation towers, patrol roads and other security infrastructure structures have appeared in the landscape. At the same time, cross-border contacts, which were part of the daily life of local communities for a long time, have significantly decreased, while the border is increasingly perceived as the external border of the European Union and NATO.
Visually documenting the eastern border of Latvia, photographer Reinis Hofmanis explores the border as a changing space that not only transforms the usual landscape, but also affects people's everyday life, environment and sense of belonging.
The center of the project is a visual study of the materialization of the border in the landscape. It reveals how geopolitical tensions and security politics are gradually turning the abstract concept of a border into a physical reality that takes an increasingly visible place in the surrounding environment. The border area is a multi-layered zone - on the one hand, the visible physical landscape with fencing and military infrastructure, on the other hand, the intangible layer with the stories and memories of people who cross the physical borders, as well as a future dimension where the border is maintained as an infrastructure for managing and preparedness for potential threats. The work focuses on landscape changes, military and civil infrastructure, as well as traces of human presence, revealing how global political processes are embodied in a specific territory and in visual details.
The people we meet talk about their hometowns, which have been transferred to other countries as a result of historical events, about family homes that are today behind border fences, and about everyday life in areas where the border has become a permanent presence. Reinis Hofmanis (1985) is an artist and photographer. He studied photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany, and obtained a master's degree at the Department of Visual Communication of the Latvian Academy of Arts. Rein's works are characterized by a socio-anthropological point of view, which manifests an interest in typifying different groups of society, their behavior patterns and the created or influenced environment. Won the main prize at Archifoto in 2012 and 2013, received 2nd place in the architecture category of the Sony World Photography Awards in 2013. In 2014, won the Fujifilm GFX Challenge Global Grant Award. His works have been published in publications such as The New York Times, Financial Times, Der Spiegel, Bloomberg, Le Monde, Esquire, Bloomberg, The Globe and Mail, The British Journal of Photography.
The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Ogre History and Art Museum by the Society ISSP, which has been active in the field of contemporary photography for 20 years, creating an active photography environment in Latvia, educating the young generation of Latvian photography authors and promoting international exchange. Curator of the exhibition: Iveta Gabaliņa.
