RIGA - Every tourist would agree that Riga's Old Town is the best place for enjoyable ambling with no particular destination. Whichever street you choose, you are surrounded by beauty and the meditative buzz of the terrace cafes.
To maximise this experience, try visiting the cozy galleries scattered around the Old Town . For this week's artistic treat, try an exhibit called "Displaced persons" by the Paris-based photographer Rip Hopkins. Benefiting from free admission and a convenient location (The Artists' Union of Latvia Gallery, 11 Novembra Krastmala 35) just on the edge of the Old Town, it features a mind-boggling selection of his work cycle from Uzbekistan. Hopkins' trademark is the coexistence of the documentary and the spiritual in his photography. "Displaced persons" focuses on the lives of those deported to Uzbekistan during the Czarist and later the Soviet regimes and are torn between two cultures. The shots capture the fragments of people's lives within the characteristic Uzbek setting, whilst the captions provide the life story of the photographed, taking you beyond the frame on the road of their displaced existence.
The exhibition runs until July 31.
