The research of invasive species in northern landscapes
they cast spells they bring out
the darkness from within
nothing is what
it seems’
I attended an artist residency in the Latvian countryside for 2 weeks and I noticed a few interesting things. First of all, because Latvia was one of the latest nations to take on Christianity, their pagan roots are still very visible in their everyday life. Their folklore is not only rooted in paganic rites, but the exact meening of their folklore is very well preserved through myths and stories ( in Hungary for example early Christians tried to eradicate almost every paganic ritual from our history. They still live through folklore but it's much harder to decipher than the Latvian one.)
Because of this - at least i suspect - latvian people are much more spiritual and closer to nature than any other nation I encountered. They respect the forest, they are preoccupied with preservation and they tend to live more in harmony with their surroundings. This kind of thinking inspired me to do landscapes (a genre that I have never really loved before - maybe because I have not seen nature as they see it)
Second of all, Latvia beeing also a post-socialist country there is a big intrusion in this natural landscape. Near a field where medicinal herbs grow there was a road. On the other side there was an abandoned military building. From the road to the building everything was surrounded by giant hogweed. A poisonous plant brought in by the russians as a "protection" of the site. Since, it became an invasive species with no herbivores that consume it. There is no way to get rid of it now.
For me in this story the most important thing is that idea how history changes the landscape - or even nature with such tiny events.