Black and white photos by the photographer Gvido Kajons, which are included in the book “Theme 011”, were taken during the times of Soviet Latvia. With a history of several decades, the photos have become valuable reflectors of the past.
The cycle “Theme 011” covers a number of themes – landscapes, demonstrations, a man and a city, captions and time. The cycle is permeated by a thought which says: HOW INTERESTING THIS TIME IS. This cycle, as everything that Kajons does, is outlined by technical sterility, perfect quality and the individual vision of the artist: he captures supposedly unnoticeable and ordinary things and turns them into art; he pulls a random piece out of context and creates his own subtext.
Gvido Kajons (1955) just like his fellow members from the photography group “A”, co-founded by him, has never studied photography in an academic way. Initially, photography fascinated him as a hobby. Gvido Kajons started taking pictures when he was in 5th grade. His first “tool” was an old grandfather’s camera manufactured in the 1930s. The photographer graduated from the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Communications of Riga Polytechnic Institute and became a professional engineer. In the 1990s he worked as a magazine photographer (for the magazine “Liesma”). Since 1979, Gvido Kajons has participated in group photo exhibitions and has arranged his own personal exhibitions in Latvia and abroad, including the Walter Philips Gallery in Canada, Exhibition Hall “Weseburg” in Germany and “Van der Berlage” gallery in Amsterdam. The most famous photo series of the author are the following: “Through life with the Minolta” /Ar Minoltu pa dzīvi/ (1994), “Theme 011” (part of the photos included in the cycle were exhibited for the first time in 1988 at the Architects House), “National geography” (1998).
The photos from the cycle “Theme 011” were captured from 1976 through to 1994.
Text authors: Sarmite Sile, Raimo Lielbriedis
Design and layout: Sandra Osina
Image scanning: Marcis Bendiks
Image processing: Gvido Kajons, Sandra Osina, Milda Osina, Valdis Osins
Publisher: Society for the Support of Education and Culture BALTA
Printed by SIA Jelgavas tipogrāfija.
http://www.kajons.com/gramata.html
The book was published with the financial support of SIA Skonto Būve.