The photobook Strenči, Rīgas 17 is dedicated to a significant building in Strenči where a renowned photo studio operated continuously for more than 80 years.
Limited edition of 50 copies
Softcover
235×315 mm
98 pages, 65 images
Latvian
ISBN 978‐9934‐591‐36‐5
The historical appearance of the studio interior has not been preserved; however, individual elements and eyewitness memories make it possible to imagine the course of the important event of photography itself. As the creators of the book — editor Anna Volkova and photographer Vladimirs Svetlovs — write in the foreword:
The studio captured important moments and thereby marked stages in the lives of those portrayed. Returning to these rooms, visitors recall again and again the thoughts and dreams they once indulged in while dressing up in front of the large mirror or standing in the line of wedding guests. The chair on which they once sat, waiting for the photographer, allows one to return to the premonitions and sensations of an as-yet-unlived future, which simultaneously belong to both yesterday and today. Here, several visions of the present may coexist.
The authors of the previously published book Glass Strenči (2019) have now turned their attention to the Strenči photo studio itself as an important site of cultural heritage. The publication includes photographs of the studio’s current interior, images of preserved studio furniture, as well as photographs from historical glass negatives from the 1920s–1940s, drawn both from the collection of the Latvian Museum of Photography and from materials that remain to this day in the former studio premises.
Over the course of several years, with the support of the Valmiera Region Cultural Department, the authors had the opportunity to conduct on-site research in Strenči, studying what has been preserved in the memories of local residents, family archives, and in the building at 17 Rīgas Street itself. The book includes, for example, a family album of the Strenči pharmacist’s children from the family archive of teacher Ārija Āķere; photographs once displayed in the studio shopwindow, bearing pinholes, from the collection of Strenči historian Sarmīte Krūze; postcards featuring landscapes by Dāvis Spunde from the collection of his heir Viktors Gustsons; and the house register of 17 Rīgas Street from the holdings of the Valka Local History Museum.
Objects and iteriors photographed by Vladimirs Svetlovs
Historical images by the authors of the Strenči photoworkshop
Sequence and foreword: Anna Volkova
Book design: Vladimirs Leibgams
Published by Talka in collaboration with the Valka Local History Museum, Latvian Museum of Photography
Supported within the framework of the Vidzeme Planning Region’s program Vidzeme Cultural Program 2025.
The photobook Strenči, Rīgas 17 is dedicated to a significant building in Strenči where a renowned photo studio operated continuously for more than 80 years.
Limited edition of 50 copies
Softcover
235×315 mm
98 pages, 65 images
Latvian
ISBN 978‐9934‐591‐36‐5
The historical appearance of the studio interior has not been preserved; however, individual elements and eyewitness memories make it possible to imagine the course of the important event of photography itself. As the creators of the book — editor Anna Volkova and photographer Vladimirs Svetlovs — write in the foreword:
The studio captured important moments and thereby marked stages in the lives of those portrayed. Returning to these rooms, visitors recall again and again the thoughts and dreams they once indulged in while dressing up in front of the large mirror or standing in the line of wedding guests. The chair on which they once sat, waiting for the photographer, allows one to return to the premonitions and sensations of an as-yet-unlived future, which simultaneously belong to both yesterday and today. Here, several visions of the present may coexist.
The authors of the previously published book Glass Strenči (2019) have now turned their attention to the Strenči photo studio itself as an important site of cultural heritage. The publication includes photographs of the studio’s current interior, images of preserved studio furniture, as well as photographs from historical glass negatives from the 1920s–1940s, drawn both from the collection of the Latvian Museum of Photography and from materials that remain to this day in the former studio premises.
Over the course of several years, with the support of the Valmiera Region Cultural Department, the authors had the opportunity to conduct on-site research in Strenči, studying what has been preserved in the memories of local residents, family archives, and in the building at 17 Rīgas Street itself. The book includes, for example, a family album of the Strenči pharmacist’s children from the family archive of teacher Ārija Āķere; photographs once displayed in the studio shopwindow, bearing pinholes, from the collection of Strenči historian Sarmīte Krūze; postcards featuring landscapes by Dāvis Spunde from the collection of his heir Viktors Gustsons; and the house register of 17 Rīgas Street from the holdings of the Valka Local History Museum.
Objects and iteriors photographed by Vladimirs Svetlovs
Historical images by the authors of the Strenči photoworkshop
Sequence and foreword: Anna Volkova
Book design: Vladimirs Leibgams
Published by Talka in collaboration with the Valka Local History Museum, Latvian Museum of Photography
Supported within the framework of the Vidzeme Planning Region’s program Vidzeme Cultural Program 2025.
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