Annemarija Gulbe: 5 photographs, 5 stories

Annemarija Gulbe (1997) graduated from ISSP School, but is currently studying at the Visual Communication Department of the Latvian Academy of Arts. In 2018, she won the FK Prize as the best young Latvian photographer. In 2019 she won the Grand Prix of the Contemporary Art Biennale – Jeune Création européenne at Montrouge, France. The series Love Re-search was shown in August at the ISSP Gallery in Berga Bazars, but can still be seen at the JCE Biennale in Cēsis. Last year it was also published in the publication Latvian Photography 2019. There was a stir around the exhibition at the ISSP Gallery, as several of the author’s works were censored at the request of the owners of the premises. ISSP Gallery is located in a prestigious boutique oasis in Berga Bazars (BB), but the ISSP Gallery lease agreement with the BB contains a clause that allows the landlord to adjust what happens in the gallery, for example, if they do not like an exhibition or event, ISSP has five days to eliminate “shortcomings”, unless the gallery wishes to terminate the lease. The problems seemed to be caused by the fact that some of Annemeria’s pictures contain naked people. Representatives of BB walked around the gallery and marked six pictures to be censored, the author then covered the curtains in front of these works.

Click CC for subtitles in English