From November 27 to January 18, 2027, the exhibition “Freedom Road” will feature photographer Reinis Hofmanis’s solo exhibition “Borderland”, which focuses on Latvia’s eastern border territory, its landscape, and the daily lives of its people.
Exhibition opening: November 27 at 3:00 PM
At Brīvības Street 2, in the “Freedom Road” exhibition. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the border has transformed from a relatively inconspicuous administrative line into a permanently guarded and fortified space, where fences, observation towers, patrol roads, and other security infrastructure have appeared in the landscape. At the same time, cross-border contacts, which had long been a part of local communities’ daily lives, have significantly decreased, while the borderland is increasingly perceived as the external border of the European Union and NATO.
Visually documenting Latvia’s eastern borderland, photographer Reinis Hofmanis explores the border as a changing space that not only transforms the familiar landscape but also affects people’s daily lives, environment, and sense of belonging.
At the heart of the project is a visual study of the materialization of the border in the landscape. It reveals how geopolitical tension and security policy gradually transform the abstract concept of a border into a physical reality that occupies an increasingly visible place in the surrounding environment. The border territory is a multi-layered zone — on one hand, the visible physical landscape with fences and military infrastructure, and on the other, the intangible layer of human stories and memories that cross physical boundaries, as well as a future dimension where the border is maintained as an infrastructure for managing potential threats and readiness. The work focuses on changes in the landscape, military and civilian infrastructure, and traces of human presence, revealing how global political processes are embodied in a specific territory and visual details.
The people met tell stories about their native places that, due to historical events, ended up in other countries, about family homes that today are behind border fences, and about daily life in territories where the border has become a constant presence. Reinis Hofmanis (1985) is an artist and photographer. He studied photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover, Germany, and earned a master’s degree in visual communication from the Latvian Academy of Art. Reinis’s works are characterized by a socio-anthropological perspective, expressed in his interest in typologizing various social groups, their behavioral patterns, and the environment they create or influence. He won the main prize at Archifoto in 2012 and 2013, and received 2nd place in the Sony World Photography Awards architecture category in 2013. In 2014, he received the Fujifilm GFX Challenge Global Grant Award. His works have been published in such publications as The New York Times, Financial Times, Der Spiegel, Bloomberg, Le Monde, Esquire, Bloomberg, The Globe and Mail, The British Journal of Photography.
The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Ogre History and Art Museum by the ISSP Association, which has been active in contemporary photography for 20 years, fostering an active photography environment in Latvia, educating the new generation of Latvian photography authors, and promoting international exchange. Exhibition curator: Iveta Gabaliņa.