Just on Time Exhibit Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Riga

The Just on Time exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design was wonderful. I was impressed that the exhibit was signed in both English and Latvian, was easy to engage with and covered everything from the 1920's to the latest in eco-friendly designs created by Latvians today.  And it was an eclectic mix of artifacts, from true items of decorative art to airplane, car, toy and radio design. What really tied the exhibit together for me was the thread of the celebration of Latvian design, even under Soviet occupation.
While you were not to take photos of the exhibit, I took a few because it was closing and I wanted an opportunity to show how they used a relatively small area to pack a punch. I have also included photos of the supporting brochure.

Notice no barriers? This seems to be common in Latvia. In Canada I would have put up a barrier so people can't touch anything, but here there was no need. They do have docents in the gallery who patrol.Notice the classical motif in the linen and the strong use of colour in the watercolours of their production pottery.

This  exhibit was set up for the 100th anniversary of Latvia. Note the stylized 100 on the cover and the infinity symbol in the left hand corner for Latvia's 100th logo.

This layout  matched the front cover. Very clever! I would have loved if they had added a translation for English onto this design piece because I expect it was significant.

An explanation of the overall exhibit.

More explanation and I like the design colours. Latvians do not shy away from using colours North Americans might not consider for an exhibit.

Design as art was very well explained but the Design and prosperity section was weaker and the ties between the two were not as obvious. Really appreciated the use of video but the labelling in the video made it difficult to sometimes understand what the curatorial team was trying to achieve.

Really like this section thought would have loved a more thorough explanation of how plywood is produced especially the veneer section. Love, love, love the posters!

Here is the address of the museum. It cost me 5 Euros to see both this exhibit and the permanent collection. Totally worth it!

These pictures from the exhibit are from the 1920s section, in the early days of independence. Notice the use of geometric patterning and oak leaves. The oak  is very important to the Latvians. 

I was very naughty and took a few pictures of the permanent collection because it is so very impressive! Look at this rug! Beautiful colour and fabulous geometric design. Just one of the many reasons to visit the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Riga!

And yes they do have a gift shop. It was closed on the day I visited but I will be back if only to look at the pottery. I will definitely be coming back.

Utena, Lithuania

Everywhere you go in Latvia and Lithuania, you are surrounded by the dead. Cemeteries are everywhere and people go the cemetery every week to clean the grave of their ancestors, place fresh flowers, light a candle and sit for a while. Flower sellers have booths beside the cemeteries and so do the makers of grave markers. At Christmas, the flower sellers sell many boughs of greenery to place on the graves. The war dead are also everywhere, Chris and I often finding graveyards of German soldiers from WWI as well as monuments to the Soviets in empty stretches of countryside or small towns. And so are memorials to the Holocaust-everywhere. Literally. 

Rumbala Massacre Memorial. One of the murder sites.

Just outside of Riga are the two memorials to the Rumbala Massacre- where over 25000 Jews were slaughtered in the space of a few days, the second largest mass killing after Babi-Yar in the Ukraine- until the death camps came online. The Latvians are slowly coming to terms with the fact that a portion of their population was complicit with the Germans in eradicating the Jews from Latvia. It is still an issue, and their official history says, "They made us do it! and we were not bad people." Gotta love revisionist history. But at least they are trying to talk it out. Hopefully, eventually, they'll admit that yes, members of our population were just fine with the Final Solution, without being coerced.

The Latvians are ahead of the Lithuanians. While in Latvia, they are coming to grips with what happened from 1941-1944 by setting up multiple museums and memorials, Lithuania is still trying to figure it out, as these articles shows. Written in 2017, 76 years after the majority of the massacres took place in Lithuania, the idea that people are still trying to acknowledge the fact that, yes, you and your countrymen were complicit in the murder of  tens of thousands of people should not be that hard. But it is. 

People forget that, percentage wise, Lithuania was the most successful country at killing their own Jews in WWII. That Lithuanians did indeed help Germans round up and kill Jews. That they held the guns shooting the Jews.

Catholic Church in Utena

The perfect example of that is Utena, Lithuania. Chris and I visited it this past week, just after Christmas. We first were drawn to the town by this magnificent Catholic Church. There was a picture of Pope Francis on the side of it. He, at least, gets it. The irony of this magnificent Catholic Church being built in 1880-1884 in a Jewish town where 75% of the population was Jewish in 1897 was not lost on me after I started my research. 

Chris managed to find the Jewish Memorial site. There are three but we were only able to find this one. This is the physical location of the massacre of the Jewish population of Utena and surrounding area. Thousands of people. Over 1/3 of the town and almost all of the Jews in the Utena District were executed. Men, women and children. There is documented evidence that the Lithuanian community voluntarily marked the home of the Jews for the Germans and then looted their homes. The Germans were in Lithuania less than three months before the Utena Jews were dead.

Pain

The Central Memorial 

The site of the killing.

The site of the killing.

Pope Francis said it best. Until Lithuanians and Latvians confront their brutal past of xenophobia, murder and collaboration these countries will continue to wrestle with the ghosts of WWII and the Occupation. Let's hope for their own sake that they acknowledge the blood on their hands and can move forward productively.

Flowers

I've been living in Latvia for 11 days and writing about it on Facebook for 10 days. Many of my friends have suggested I write a blog about it so I hope this proves useful for people.

I am married to someone who moves constantly, which means I move constantly.
This year's destination? Riga, Latvia. I live downtown in Centrs in an apartment with my husband Chris and my very old but spry dog, Pumpkin.

Today I was going to write about grocery shopping (which is a challenge!) but am instead going to go back to writing about the flower stalls just down the street from the apartment. The first morning I took Pumpkin out, over a week ago now, it was 8:00 am and the flower stalls were going full tilt because people were buying flowers to put on the monuments for Remembrance Day. All week long, as the city prepared for Latvia's 100th Birthday, everyone seemed to be carrying flowers. On November 18 people were lined up at different monuments to place more flowers. In fact the city had actually built rows of wooden shelves to place the flowers on at the Freedom Monument at the entrance to Old Town.

I have already bought flowers for the apartment because who can resist brightly coloured flowers? I know I can't. These are the ones I bought last week still going strong. 21 Euros!

I just took Pumpkin out for a walk (really just a smell fest because we didn't go far.) It is 10:30 at night, the streets are quiet with some pedestrians still walking around. And the flower stalls are still open. At 10:30 at night! The women who run them stay outside all day long. It is -1 Celsius. Some of the women were cleaning the glass of their stalls, some have already gone home but there are still some open. As I walked down the street, first one man and then another walked out with enormous bouquets. A couple went in and came out with flowers. Is this a Latvian thing? A European thing?  If I go out at midnight is there still going to be a flower seller open? And the answer is yes. The Saktas Flower Market is open 24 hours a day.

So if I need an emergency bouquet I can always get one!