The Latvian Fund for Nature has launched an art photography calendar ‘WETLANDS’

The Latvian Fund for Nature (LFN), in collaboration with photographer and artist Kristaps Kalns, has published a large-format art photo calendar dedicated to this year’s habitat – wetlands. The calendar links different wetland landscapes to the sensations of a particular season, and this was the case throughout the past year as the photographer traveled through different wetlands in Latvia, including those where LFN is currently carrying out nature restoration work. The calendar can be purchased by contacting the LDF for a donation, and all proceeds will go to restoring the wetlands.

Wetlands are ecosystems where land and water meet. They are rich in biodiversity and provide ecosystem services essential to our existence. Wetlands regulate floods, purify water, store carbon and thus mitigate climate change. Although wetlands are of vital importance to human existence, they are not widely known and appreciated in Latvian society.

‘Wetlands are an element of nature where it is not easy to demonstrate the value of nature as they are not as aesthetically beautiful or usable as other ecosystems. Yet, it is the wetland variety and their many purposes that can bring people to a deeper and more profound understanding of nature. This calendar is an invitation to see, feel and start learning about wetlands, because we need them more than we think

Liene Brizga-Kalniņa, LFN’s Head of Communications

‘My pictures are a momentary glance, a fragment of the world seen at a given moment, a brief and carefully constructed frame. Of course, my feelings cannot be separated from the seasonal feelings of a refreshing solstice night in June or November, where, like a thread in a broken landscape, I proudly feel the great victory of the Latvian Freedom fights. I would like these pictures to be like a window to an untouched, completely real reality’

Kristaps Kalns, photographer and artist

Art scholar Aija Brasliņa about the calendar ‘WETLANDS’: ‘By photographing the wet landscapes of Latvia, Kristaps Kalns sees the northern landscapes through the eyes of the camera as the seasons and the mood of the images change. In the diversity of the moments captured, the variability of his own subjective vision is inevitably revealed – the exploration of the observation of the landscape and the search for perfection are combined with a romantic feeling, at the same time with conscious references to the legacy of the classics of Latvian painting. The choice of motifs and lighting, the framing of the composition and the play on the elements of form reflect both the canon of the harmonious ideal landscape, the patriarch of the genre, Vilhems Purvītis, and the fleeting impressionistic lightness and impressions of his contemporary Johans Valters: “Where there is a little water and grass, there is beauty”. By documenting the unique, preserved and renewed values of Latvia’s natural world, Kristaps Kalns, with his typical handwriting, confirms the artistic power of the photographic medium and, with the images of visual reality he creates, forms deeper links with our cultural values.’

The calendar (63×50 cm) can be purchased for a donation by writing to ldf@ldf.lv. The funds raised will be used to support the nature restoration work carried out by LFN in several wetlands in Latvia.

The calendar was produced as part of the project ‘LIFE MarshMeadows: Integrated wetland restoration in Latvia and Lithuania’. It is a project funded by the European Union’s LIFE program, which aims to restore two large wetland complexes and ecosystem functions at three Natura 2000 sites in Latvia and Lithuania. The making of the calendar was supported by Arctic Paper.

Kristaps Kalns (1981) has been active in photography and contemporary art for more than 20 years. He worked as a photojournalist for the newspaper «Diena», documenting all kinds of events, most of all – cultural life and people, at the same time carrying out his own artistic projects. In collaboration with artist Sarmīte Māliņa, he created exhibitions. As a photographer, he participated in the creation of books, collaborated with the Latvian National Theatre, Latvian National Opera and the Latvian National Art Museum. He was nominated for the ‘Purvītis’ Prize, won the newspaper «Diena» Cultural Prize and gained the audience prize at the Festival of Arts in Cēsis. His works are in the Latvian National Art Museum and private collections.

The Latvian Fund for Nature is the largest non-governmental nature conservation organization in Latvia, which has been operating for more than 30 years. More than 150 different nature and environmental protection projects have been implemented under the mission ‘Preserving and restoring Latvia’s biodiversity’.