From August 8 to September 19, the solo exhibition The Sea is Silent, Yet I Return by artist Madara Kvēpa will be on view at the ISSP Gallery. The exhibition explores ecological sensitivity — the formation of relationships with nature, its elements, rhythms, and silences. The opening of the exhibition will take place on August 7 at 18:00.
Over a prolonged period of returning to familiar sites along the Baltic Sea coast, the artist documents her encounters with pine trees, stones, wind, tides, algae, and sand through analogue photography and diary entries. In these moments of connection, she not only feels the presence of nature, but also seeks to understand: what is it like to be a stone or a tree? Time and slow return become both a form of expression and a method of artistic research. Madara asks: «Is empathy for nature something we can train?»
The exhibition The Sea is Silent, Yet I Return addresses the impact of climate change on Latvia’s coastal landscape — a vital part of our collective memory and identity. Closeness to nature offers solace and shelter, while also serving as a reminder of our responsibility and deep interconnection with the environment.
Madara Kvēpa (1996) is a visual artist currently pursuing a professional doctoral degree at the Art Academy of Latvia. Since 2016, she has actively participated in group exhibitions and presented her solo show Vesels at the 2021 Cēsis Art Festival, as well as taking part in the Riga Photography Biennale group exhibition Utopias (2022). To date, she has held ten solo exhibitions, the most recent being Field Studies in Ancestral Memory at the gallery Myymälä2 in Helsinki, Finland (2023).
The exhibition The Sea is Silent, Yet I Return will be on display at the ISSP Gallery from August 8 to September 19, and its opening is taking place on August 7 at 18:00. On September 6 from 17:00 to 23:00, as part of the White Night cultural programme, visitors will have the chance to experience the exhibition together with the artist. The evening will be enriched by a special sound and music performance, Hearing the Sea Speak, created for the exhibition by Reinis Semēvics and Michael Holland.
Curator — Liāna Ivete Žilde, scenographer — Ieva Stalšene. The exhibition is supported by Riga City Council, the State Culture Capital Foundation and VPT Grupa.
Viedokļi