Art on a Postcard for War Child UK

About 

I was born in Latvia in 1981 and now reside and work in London. I recently graduated with MA in Fine Art from City and Guilds of London Art School. 

Influenced by my cultural background growing up in Post-Soviet Latvia and contemporary feminist writings, my paintings contemplate the cultural and social impact on our bodies and the fluidity of female identity. By pouring, pushing and pulling thinned oil paint on aluminium, my paintings reveal the body as a porous and dynamic surface, blurring the boundary between the past and presence, memory and reality. Through fragmentation and close-ups, the bodies in my work resist narrative and categorisation. As a result, they slide between the solid and fluid, figurative and abstract, archetypal and unfamiliar self.  

In addition to painting, I have a community engagement and art curation background. I currently work for artist-led start-up LoCA Art which connects informal spaces with local artists. 

Education 

2022 MA in Fine Art (Distinction) at City & Guilds of London Art School 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

September 2022  "MA Show", City and Guilds of London Art School  

June 2019  "Changes", Studio/Gallery "Not Quite Ready," Seattle  

December 2018  "Europa, Helen, Ariadne", Studio/Gallery "Not Quite Ready," Seattle  

March 2017  “Artists for Immigrants” at KEXP Studios Seattle   

March 2017  "Behind Shapes”, Hillman City Collaboratory, Seattle  

September 2016  “In-Sight”, Hillman City Collaboratory, Seattle  

May 2016  "KOH Atelier”, AXIS Gallery, Seattle 

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork   

Working in restrained arrangements and with cool colours, I wanted to present the female body in a liminal space, marked by loss and uncertainty. The close cropping conjures an atmosphere of suspense, trepidation and unease. The viewer is left to imagine what body they are looking at, what has been left out, and what is happening beyond the edge of the picture frame. By resisting the context and narrative, I also wanted to celebrate the inner freedom and liberation from the past and the adaptability and beauty of the human form.  Even though my work is based on my experience of growing up in Post-Soviet Latvia, it is concerned with universal questions of female identity, belonging, freedom and the presence and absence of the body. 

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