‘The Sea is Silent, Yet I Return’ by Madara Kvēpa on view at the ISSP Gallery in Riga

From August 8 to September 19, the ISSP Gallery at Berga Bazārs will host the solo exhibition “The Sea is Silent, Yet I Return” by artist Madara Kvēpa. The exhibition explores ecological sensitivity – the formation of relationships with nature, its elements, rhythms and silences. The opening of the exhibition will take place on August 7 at 6 PM!

Over a prolonged period of returning to familiar sites along the Baltic Sea coast, the artist documents her encounters with pine trees, stones, wind, tides, algae, and sand through analogue photography and diary entries. In these moments of connection, she not only feels the presence of nature, but also seeks to understand: what is it like to be a stone, or be a tree? Time and slow return become both a form of expression and a method of artistic research. Madara Kvēpa asks: "Is empathy for nature something we can train?"

The exhibition addresses the impact of climate change on Latvia’s coastal landscape – a vital part of our collective memory and identity. Closeness to nature offers solace and shelter, while also serving as a reminder of our responsibility and deep interconnection with the environment.

On September 6 from 17:00 to 23:00, as part of the White Night cultural programme, visitors will have the chance to experience the exhibition together with the artist. The evening will be enriched by a special sound and music performance, ‘Hearing the Sea Speak’, created for the exhibition by Reinis Semēvics and Michael Holland.

Madara Kvēpa (1996) is a visual artist currently pursuing a professional doctoral degree at the Art Academy of Latvia. Since 2016, she has actively participated in group exhibitions and presented her solo show ‘Vesels’ at the 2021 Cēsis Art Festival, as well as taking part in the Riga Photomonth group exhibition ‘Utopias’ (2022). To date, she has held ten solo exhibitions, the most recent being ‘Field Studies in Ancestral Memory’ at the gallery Myymälä2 in Helsinki, Finland (2023).

Curator: Liāna Ivete Žilde, Scenographer: Ieva Stalšene

The exhibition is supported by Riga City Council, the State Culture Capital Foundation and VPT Grupa.