Black Sacks of Flour

Black Sacks of Flour

2017, jute/ foam polystyrene granules/ flour, 150 x 150 x 70 cm, Riga, Latvia

This work is based on juxtapositions in form (black, white) and content (rough outside meeting an inner lightness), using flour sacks as a symbolic representation of a Latvian, a person coming from a bread and porridge-eating nation. The black sack is the rough outer shell, yet there is fine white flour on the inside. That is the contrasting nature of a Latvian - despite the tough outside there is a fair soul inside. The crop becomes flour and then - bread; working the fields and milling the grain is a representation of diligence and a high work ethic. The sacks displayed here symbolise the introvert Latvian nature. A flour bag also resonates with the idiom 'sack of flour' and can represent torpidity. Nevertheless, the open sack displays the fair Latvian soul.

There are nine sacks on display; the number nine is special in the Latvian folk culture. It is considered both as a triple combination of the number three - a representation of completeness, and as an inconceivable value. Nine is also the number of days in the ancient Latvian pagan calendar.