Painting Series “Memory”

The painting series “Memory” was created between 2016 and 2024. The first works include “Remembrance I,” depicting an abandoned, ransacked house left behind by displaced people, while “Remembrance II” reflects the uneasy feeling surrounding remembrance days — the pressure to remain positive and forward-looking, ignoring or forgetting the traumas of the past. In the painting “Girls,” my grandmother is portrayed with her young cousin from Renda — a moment in time and place when no one could have imagined that, just a few years later, my grandmother would lose her home and family, and her cousin would die of an infectious disease. Throughout the series, the birch tree appears as a symbol of remembrance, alongside references to traditional sayings about food — “the plate must be emptied,” “if bread falls, you must kiss it,” “bread must never be thrown away.” In Latvian collective memory, the birch is most often associated with letters written on birch bark. In speaking with people, I discovered several cases where birch groves had been planted as sites of honor and remembrance for those who were deported.