Currently lives and works in: Riga, Latvia
Practice: Photography and cinematography related documentary work
Areas of interest: Photography, drawing, documentary work, cinema
I work with documentary photography/video projects as well as with vernacular images and found archives.
MagiC Carpets project
Necessity and possibility of belonging
Current world events, which also reverberate in our society, encourage us to revisit the stories of individuals and the possible dialogue between different people, communities and places, which is why in the summer of 2022 the Latvian New Theatre Institute invited photographer and documentary filmmaker Andrejs Strokins to participate in the Magic Carpets residency and explore and document an issue or topic of interest to him in more depth.
In August, during the residency, the artist documented the demolition of the occupation monument in Uzvaras Park in Riga, which symbolically marked a sharp dividing line in the relationship with the “legacy” of the Soviet occupation past. In the autumn of the same year, Strokin launched a research project in an attempt to find points of contact with young people who would be willing to share their experiences of differences of opinion among family or friends in relation to the Russian hostilities in Ukraine. Coming from a family with Latvian, Polish and Russian-speaking roots, it has been both difficult and important for Strokin to re-examine and re-evaluate the multifaceted nature of his identity, community and history over the past year. Therefore, the artist’s main focus has been on how these events are experienced by members of the younger generation, who have grown up in bilingual families and environments, and who mostly get their information from social media.
At the end of the residency Andrejs Strokins held a conversation with philosopher, publicist Igor Gubenko, social anthropologist Inguna Potetinova, scenographer Kristini Rezvih and moderator Ilze Dzenovska. Photos and video material created during the residency, was presented during the conversation. The discussion explored themes and questions that emerged from the conversations with young people from bilingual families.
Past projects
Type: Photography
The areas of Bolderaja and Daugavgrīva have had significant historical importance for the city of Riga; however, the importance has decreased and they have swiftly turned into neglected peripheries with remarkable swiftness.
For many centuries the only road that connected Riga with the whole region of Kurzeme ran through these dune territories. The Daugavgrīva Fortress which is located on the Eastern part of the island next to the estuary of Daugava was erected to protect Riga from enemy ships.
These objects kept their military importance right up to World War I when new military technologies that made fortresses rather useless were introduced.
Several fishermen villages were located near the Fortress; shortly before WWI the inhabitants of Riga followed the trends of the time and summer houses started to appear in the region. The Second World War brought dramatic change. When it ended, Daugavgriva became a closed territory used by the Soviet Naval Forces — the fishermen shacks were replaced by high-rise buildings and gardening and garage cooperatives were introduced in the rich bottomlands of Bullupe. Years have passed since Latvia has restored its independence and the Soviet Army has left, but the areas have not yet recovered. Their mostly Russian-speaking inhabitants have stuck somewhere between the Soviet past and the ever-changing present. Bolderaja has one of the closest beaches of the Baltic Sea and yet most of the inhabitants of Riga choose to ignore it and search for resorts, sanatoriums and plots of land for their summer houses elsewhere.
What inspires you as an artist? Nature, physical work.
What do you think is the purpose of art? To broaden perception of world around us.
Contacts