J膩nis Krievs: The First Five Years
The First Five Years, a solo exhibition of well-known Lavian photographer J膩nis Deinats, is presented in the 4th Floor Exhibition Halls of the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga (Ja艈a Rozent膩la laukums 1) from 17 August to 24 November 2024, offering a documentary story about the period before the regaining of Latvia鈥檚 national independence, when changes in society were still maturing, and the artist鈥檚 camera captured the observed scenes of the disintegrating socialist system.
The title of the exhibition The First Five Years is related to the period of the creation of the works from 1989 until 1994, when J膩nis Deinats鈥� photographic activity began. It ironically evokes memory of the popular slogan of Soviet economic planning, which urged Soviet society towards achievements.
A large part of the exhibition consists of images that seemingly represent nothing significant and whose message can only be understood from a certain distance. One would like to call the time depicted by the artist the 鈥渓yrical hero鈥� of the show, which, with its remembrance substance, participates in the formulation of the nation鈥檚 identity. Capturing the departing socialism without pretention, the photographs create reports of accidentally experienced scenes that J膩nis Deinats saw in the surrounding environment and that reflect the daily life of prosaic Soviet people, which (as it turns out) goes on in the context of important events. One such event was the vote of 4 May held behind the walls of the Supreme Council building, which was later to result in the restoration of Latvia鈥檚 independence. A time of ripening political change fixed in passing, without drama or sense of predicting the future, when the Soviet militia was associated only with a policing body that upholds the law.
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The First Five Years, a solo exhibition of well-known Lavian photographer J膩nis Deinats, is presented in the 4th Floor Exhibition Halls of the main building of the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga (Ja艈a Rozent膩la laukums 1) from 17 August to 24 November 2024, offering a documentary story about the period before the regaining of Latvia鈥檚 national independence, when changes in society were still maturing, and the artist鈥檚 camera captured the observed scenes of the disintegrating socialist system.
The title of the exhibition The First Five Years is related to the period of the creation of the works from 1989 until 1994, when J膩nis Deinats鈥� photographic activity began. It ironically evokes memory of the popular slogan of Soviet economic planning, which urged Soviet society towards achievements.
A large part of the exhibition consists of images that seemingly represent nothing significant and whose message can only be understood from a certain distance. One would like to call the time depicted by the artist the 鈥渓yrical hero鈥� of the show, which, with its remembrance substance, participates in the formulation of the nation鈥檚 identity. Capturing the departing socialism without pretention, the photographs create reports of accidentally experienced scenes that J膩nis Deinats saw in the surrounding environment and that reflect the daily life of prosaic Soviet people, which (as it turns out) goes on in the context of important events. One such event was the vote of 4 May held behind the walls of the Supreme Council building, which was later to result in the restoration of Latvia鈥檚 independence. A time of ripening political change fixed in passing, without drama or sense of predicting the future, when the Soviet militia was associated only with a policing body that upholds the law.
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