From October 18 to November 27 the ISSP Gallery is hosting the solo exhibition “On Guard” by Latvian artist Evita Goze. It is based on a partly anthropological, partly staged five-year-long observation of the Youth Guard, exploring such themes as coming of age and masculinity.
The Youth Guard is a voluntary movement for children and young people aged 10 to 21 years, organized by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia. It can be looked at as a contemporary initiation ritual for adulthood, which at the same time satisfies a romantic boyhood dream of going back to nature. The exhibition “On Guard” is a partly anthropological, partly staged five-year-long observation of the Youth Guard. Choosing adolescents who are in the process of learning how to be men and soldiers as the subjects of her work, Goze emphasizes vulnerability, insecurities, inconsistencies, and moments of rest or suspension. By doing so, she stresses the performative and unstable nature of masculinity and the soldier figure itself.
Evita Goze (Latvia, 1984) is a curator, writer and photographer, based in Riga, Latvia. She received a BA in Photography from University of Brighton, UK, and an MA in Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia. Her primary medium of expression is photography, but she also uses text, vernacular photography and found objects in her work. Her work has been shown in Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, published in Latvian Photography Yearbook, The Guardian, YET magazine, The Calvert Journal and others. “On Guard” is her first solo exhibition in Riga.
Curator: Iveta Gabaliņa
Graphic design: Līga Spunde
Technical solutions: fineArtPrint.lv, Aldis Bušs
ISSP Galerija / ISSP Gallery
Marijas 13 k-3, Bergs Bazaar, Riga, Latvia
Photography: Ingus Bajārs
