Museum Island

Art museums preserve culturally significant objects. Islands represent isolation and detachment. This series of photographs was inspired by Berlin’s Museum Island. It explores the ritual of preserving artefacts and reflects upon how humans attribute semiotic meanings and values to these objects. Having become the objects of visitors interpretation and tourist attraction the portrayed subjects are questioningly looking towards us. The visitors can often be seen wandering the premises of museums with thoughtful faces, reflecting within themselves. What do they expect to see and feel when they visit art museums? And what do they find? This series of photographs talks about cultural preservation, identity and longings.

Sabīne Zoltnere (1992) is a Latvian photographer, living and working in Berlin. She studied printmaking in Art Academy of Latvia and Florence Fine Art Academy. She studied photography under Latvian photographer Andrejs Grants and at Ostkreuz School of Photography under German photographer Sibylle Fendt. Her exhibition Museum Island will be on view at Riga Circus from 16 March until 6 April.