Iveta Gabaliņa
Iveta Gabaliņa (1979) has studied photography at the studio of Andrejs Grants, at Bournemouth Art Institute, and in the MA programme at Alto University in Helsinki. Her work has been exhibited in Latvia and internationally, including at C/O (Berlin, Germany), GESTE (Paris), and Williams Tower Gallery (Houston, USA). Gabaliņa has participated in photography festivals in Singapore, Hanover, and elsewhere. Her work is included in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Geste Paris, and the Deutsche Börse Art Collection.
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FROM THE SERIES AUKSTS ŪDENS (COLD WATER)
Cēsis has a special historical role in the practice of cold water healing.
In the middle of the 19th century, Georg von Meyer, a physician from Cēsis, opened a cold water healing institution in the town. Several methods were used there, all attributed to the Silesian farmer Vincenz Priessnitz. Priessnitz’s methods were based on the belief that cold water could help heal various ailments. In addition, thanks to the extensive network of springs in the Gauja River valley, Cēsis was a particularly suitable place for Priessnitz to practise water healing.
The springs around Cēsis served as the starting point for the artwork. Surveying the springs has resulted in a visual collection of springs in a landscape that features staged visualisations of Priesnitz’s cold water healing methods.
COLD WATER. Pigment printing
600 €
FROM THE SERIES RITI RAITI RĪTA RASA (FLOW SWIFTLY, MORNING DEW)
Iveta Gabaliņa’s work Flow Swiftly, Morning Dew focuses on the Latvian sauna healing practice in which the body, mind and spirit are healed using plants, oral folklore, and immersion in cold water. It is a visual diary created by the author over several years, in the pages of which one can find portraits made using the anthotype technique as well as the carefully collected remains of a sauna whisk.
“A wise sauna specialist once said that the sauna is a place of transformation, but for me it has become a space of self acceptance. The sauna teaches me to accept my own body first, with all of its seemingly ugly lumps and bumps that have collected within me as a result of unconscious words and perceptions. The sauna teaches one to see the other as part of oneself, without judgement and condemnation. But most of all, taking a sauna teaches us to see in ourselves a spring that flows from the depths of the earth, offering water in a non-violent way.”
FLOW SWIFTLY, MORNING DEW. 05. 2020. Silver gelatin print, paper: Hahnemuhle Matte 190 gsm / One copy
800 €
FLOW SWIFTLY, MORNING DEW. MARIGOLD. 2020. Unique anthotype made from marigold sap / One copy
1200 €
FLOW SWIFTLY, MORNING DEW. 10. 2020. Pigment printing, Paper: Hahnemuhle Matte 190 gsm / Print: 5+2
1/5 - 1800 €
FROM THE SERIES MANA ROKA IR SILTĀKA PAR SAULI (MY HAND IS WARMER THAN THE SUN)
Images of Svalbard’s pristine coasts, glaciers and remnants are brought to Riga. A block of Arctic ice travels with them in the suitcase. From these two separate objects, new, unique images are created, which are both photographs and photograms. Melting on paper, the ice deforms the photographed landscapes, losing its own volume with each successive landscape until it disappears altogether.
MY HAND IS WARMER THAN THE SUN. 2019. Ice photogram 
1800 €
MY HAND IS WARMER THAN THE SUN. 2019. Ice photogram
1800 €
MY HAND IS WARMER THAN THE SUN. 2019. Ice photogram
1800 €
MY HAND IS WARMER THAN THE SUN. 2019. Ice photogram
1800 €
