How can one simultaneously fill the vacuum of in-depth historiography whilst critically re-examining existing narratives? Contemporary Histories of Photography series of exhibitions brings together several artists' perspectives, commentaries and interpretations about the processes of writing the local history of photography. The exhibitions are conceived to accompany the publication A Visual History of Latvian Photography, to be released by the ISSP in 2024. Kristīne Krauze-Slucka, Agate Tūna, Annemarija Gulbe and Konstantin Zhukov have created new works which refer to and engage in dialogue with photographers and phenomena from different historical periods as well as in collaboration with researchers of the corresponding themes. Examining materiality, experimental technologies, photography's relationship to cinema, and paranormal photography, a genre that sits uneasily in the context of fine art, the artists challenge the boundaries of the familiar history of photography. The exhibitions employ the perspectives of women's and queer histories as well as question the role of the photographic medium in shaping national and local identities.

Contemporary Histories of Photography highlights the subjectivity of every version of history and different lesser-known aspects of the local history of photography. The writing of history, including art history, is never neutral, instead being entangled in its social and political context, including certain power relations and a good deal of personal choices – something Michel Foucault also refers to in his work, proposing the notion of an archaeology of knowledge that interrogates the formation of seemingly objective knowledge as a part of a particular, era-specific discourse. The establishment of an artistic canon is an essential part of the construction of collective national identity, while at the same time the creation of any canon can be seen as problematic, since choices about inclusion and exclusion are involved. Contemporary historiography of art is influenced, for example, by feminist and decolonial discourses, which demand the revision of conventional narratives. The exhibition is employed as a tool to critically question the process of writing the history of national photography and the shaping of its canon, in which the ISSP-produced publication plays a part. The involvement of young artists, who offer their own interpretations and reference points for that history, entails a departure from what could be a didactic or hegemonic version of the canon, opening up space for a diversity of voices and contemporary perspectives. The exhibition connects the medium’s past and present, pointing both to continuity and possible future directions in Latvian photography. The title – Contemporary Histories of Photography – highlights the changing perspectives and approaches in art history over time as well as the impossibility of seeing contemporary artistic processes from the position of a future historian.



Participants:Konstantīns Žukovs (LV), Annemarija Gulbe (LV)
Curator:  Liāna Ivete Žilde (LV)
Image: Ina Stūre/ Kristīne Krauze Slucka