“I have traveled all over Latvia – it is an amazing land. I am very happy that the Honorary Consulate of Latvia asked me to present an exhibition of their master,” said at the opening of the exhibition the owner of the gallery, winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize, Honored Artist of Ukraine, president of the publishing company “Svitlo i Tin,” member of the Photographers Union of Ukraine, vice-president of the World Association of Ukrainian Photographers, and Honorary Doctor of the Ukrainian Academy of Printing Vasyl Pylypiuk. “This is a great opportunity to see the beauty of Riga, the Baltic Sea, rivers, lakes, and forests seized in a photo from the bird’s-eye view in all seasons.”
Juris Kalnins has been engaged in air photography since 1995. Latvian authorities purchased the works of the artist to organize photo exhibitions around the world – panorama photos made by the great photographer have been already presented in Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.
The exhibition “Latvia from the Bird’s-eye View” will be open at Vasyl Pylypiuk’s photo gallery until November 1. Admission is free. Lviv residents and tourists will also be able to form an idea about Latvia through Pylypiuk’s eyes: 22 of his photos taken in Riga in 2004 are displayed in the halls of the gallery.
In addition to the exhibition in Vasyl Pylypiuk’s photo gallery, within the framework of The Days of Latvia in Lviv there will be an exhibition of motanka-dolls with fragments of Latvian national costume at the Andrei Sheptytsky National Museum (on Svobody Avenue, 20), lecture “European Integration: Latvia’s Experience” of Janina Kursite, member of Latvian Parliament, academician of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (Ivan Franko Lviv National University), concert of folk music, and an exhibition of works of an educator and a historian who has for many years collected historical materials, painted and commented on the testimony of his era – Johann Christoph Brotze (1742-1823), called “Images of Livonian Land” from the collection of the Academic Library of Latvia University (library of Ivan Franko National University). In November there will be presentation of the film Defenders of Riga (Rigas Sargi) directed by Aigars Grauba. The movie is about the events that took place in September of 1919 called the Latvian War of Independence.
