While exploring the archives of the Museum of Photography, I was drawn to a series of portraits of a little girl – smiling, patiently posing in the studio. They were taken by photographer Roberts Johansons (1877 -1959), who, through the loving eyes of a father, captured his only daughter, Valija, until his passing.
Further research led me to the Johansons’ relatives, and by supplementing the narrative with later photographs from private family albums, I began to piece together a visual biography of Valija.
A girl growing up as an only child in a creative environment. A young woman living through Latvia’s so-called “golden years”. A woman who flourishes and enters marriage with hope – unaware that war is approaching.
The photographs, positioned between the visible and the merely implied, invited a deeper look. Who was Valija? What did she experience as a woman whose first child was born shortly before the outbreak of war, and the second in the midst of it? How did she feel when her beloved father had to relinquish everything to the Soviet regime – his life’s work and passion, the photo studios – in order to save his family from deportation to Siberia? What might she have become, had she been given the choice?
Further research led me to the Johansons’ relatives, and by supplementing the narrative with later photographs from private family albums, I began to piece together a visual biography of Valija.
A girl growing up as an only child in a creative environment. A young woman living through Latvia’s so-called “golden years”. A woman who flourishes and enters marriage with hope – unaware that war is approaching.
The photographs, positioned between the visible and the merely implied, invited a deeper look. Who was Valija? What did she experience as a woman whose first child was born shortly before the outbreak of war, and the second in the midst of it? How did she feel when her beloved father had to relinquish everything to the Soviet regime – his life’s work and passion, the photo studios – in order to save his family from deportation to Siberia? What might she have become, had she been given the choice?
Peering into the intimate life of one woman made me reflect on the fragility and inevitability of life. It raised countless unanswerable questions about the meaning and fulfillment of human existence, while also reminding of the vital role photography plays in shaping collective memory and historical understanding.
Group exhibition "Pārnese" , 2025
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