Solo Exhibition of Dārta Madara Cielava “BELONGINGS”

The exhibition explores the boundary between the personal and the public. The paintings become a space where silence collides with information overload, revealing how conditional and shifting our understanding of private space has become today. Together, the works form a reflection on social structures, our mechanisms of adaptation, and collective and individual tensions, creating a distinctive documentation of our time.

Dārta Madara Cielava is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in painting. Although she is trained as a painter, other media and materials also play an important role in her practice. Each technical solution is chosen deliberately, allowing painting to become a language that freely extends beyond the boundaries of a single medium.

The artist reflects:

“I am a student. I have school, work and a home. And at home I also work, paint, write, and send endless strings of emails. Routine emerges from a combination of comfort and small problems and joys. I am affected by the expensive heating in my rented home; I am affected by stupid, thoughtless remarks made by people whose staged plays we are all subjected to. My bed is my safety; it is like the starting point of a coordinate plane. I am not untouchable; I am in a cage I have built myself. Stepping out of it marks the beginning of a new act.”

In her work, Dārta Madara Cielava approaches everyday objects as signs that form a personal visual language. Her compositions emerge intuitively, seeking connections between what is seen and what is experienced, between the physical environment and its emotional resonance. Rather than attempting to provide unequivocal answers, the artist draws attention to questions and experiences that characterise everyday life today.

Her paintings bring together impasto brushstrokes, vivid colours and areas of unpainted linen canvas. This contrast creates a balance between presence and absence, allowing meaning to emerge not only from what is depicted, but also from what remains unspoken.

Dārta Madara Cielava was the laureate of the 2025 competition exhibition “Artists of Ogre Municipality”, receiving the award for her work Opis nezin manu vārdu (Grandpa Doesn’t Know My Name), which portrayed a deeply personal story from the artist’s life.

The jury consisted of Māris Grosbahs, curator of exhibitions at the Ogre History and Art Museum; photographer Georgs Avetisjans; art historian Māra Lāss; graphic artist and art historian Valdis Villerušs; and scenographer and multimedia artist Ineta Sipunova.

As the winner of the competition’s main prize, the artist was given the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition in the museum’s Grand Hall in 2026. Through Opis nezin manu vārdu, the artist addresses a relatively new and increasingly relevant subject in Latvian painting — dementia.

For the Ogre History and Art Museum, supporting emerging artists from the municipality, fostering their professional development, and increasing the visibility of their work within the broader cultural landscape are important aspects of its mission.

Exhibition artist: Dārta Madara Cielava

Project manager: Elīna Cērpa

Creative process mentor: Madara Kvēpa

Graphic design: Kristīne Martinova

Photography: Oksana Okmi Mizgajeva