Ilze Avotiņa
Dream Catcher
26.09.2012 - 20.10.2012
The idea of the exhibition and its title came from Richard Attenborough’s (USA) 1999 film ”Grey Owl”. In the film the Native American symbol a ’dream catcher’ caught my attention. This charm or symbol may protect people from evil and enhances the human qualities of love, friendship and harmony by capturing nightmares but permitting good dreams to pass through. It has a Latvian counterpart, “a whisk of happiness” which is also purported to possess similar properties. The dream catcher, which is usually round and resembles a delicate cobweb, was mainly hung by babies’ cribs but may also have been used in weddings as the protector of the newly-weds’ love and was also considered as the protector of the soul. The Latvian ethnographic symbol “A whisk of happiness” was used for similar purposes. The Sun, being the source of light and warmth and the reference by which man’s life span is measured, is symbolic of eternal life. These similarities reminded me again that people from various cultures all over the world have summarized the accumulated experiences, observations and interpretations from the distant past and have passed them from one generation to the next. Each nation has created its own symbolism and legends, which undoubtedly helps people live their lives more comfortably and harmoniously. My thoughts on the course of life, being part of a nation, the handing down of Latvian traditions and the purpose of man’s existence on Earth are expressed in this exhibition, “Dream catcher” The goal of the exhibition is to enhance the feeling of being part of the Latvian nation, both for myself and for the viewers. I dedicate this exhibition to my great-grandmother Maija Pecs and my grandmother Ella Kārkliņa Pecs.
/Ilze Avotina/