Iveta Vaivode was born in 1979. In recent years, Iveta Vaivode has dedicated herself to photographic essays, created over a longer period of time, in order to approach her subjects in more depth. Her photographic works deal mainly with the presentation of rural communities in the eastern part of Latvia, called Lattgale. Iveta’s photographs have been exhibited in Latvia, Lithuania, Great Britain, France, China and Belgium. She was awarded the following prizes: Nikon Discovery Award (2008), FreshFaced+WildEyed (The Photographers Gallery, UK) and the Burn Magazine Grant. Iveta Vaivode lives and works in Riga.

“POLAR” tells a story of 5 weeks stay in one of the most Northen town in Norway during the darkest period of the year. The work combines observations on darkness and light and how these two opposites influence the perception of time. When there is no daylight the human body can find itself trapped within the prison of now.  “On the Ontology of the Photographic Image”, the French film theorist Andre Bazin relaying on the trace-like aspect of photography links photography to time. He argues that photography fulfils human wish to stop  time, but perception of time flow stops also within the darkness. When the darkness comes first one can find different ways how to measure the time. You can measure the time using ice , if it is taken from the lake. Or you can measure time by merits of melted snow. Perception of time changes in regards of available daylight during the period of polar night. And soon you notice that this world has adopted different sources of light. 

In “POLAR” time does not only unfolds trough the absence of sunlight, but also in a very direct way within the photograms of snow, ice and landscape - like images exposed directly under the seemingly black polar night. 

The project was made possible by Arctic Culture Lab in Kjøllefjord on Nordkyn peninsula with kind support of Kulturkontakt Nord.


Website

www.ivetavaivode.com