The sunshine of the Baltic Sea, 

the smoke of the meadow picnic, 

the shadows of the forest, 

the garden cabin, 

the family party, 

The Easter ceremony,

all these scenes of life in Latvia poured into me. 

 

At first, as an intruder with entirely different cultural backgrounds, I had a strong sense of bystanders.

 

Travelers’ way of viewing/watching and interpreting is a spectator, which is a jumping fragment scene transformation in the process of sightseeing or always exploring external stimulation. They are either full of novelty or indifferent to everything.

 

I tried to touch the sea and the forests. I was interested in everything I could perceive. I strained my sensory nerves and tried to sensitize all the external stimuli. I spent most of my time with cameras and shoot people or objects from time to time. It is an uncomfortable and blunt act. However I was eager to be engaged there in a straightforward way. Ieva, the local female artist who provided me with everything for this particular journey, even brought me into her daily and interpersonal life. Therefore I am no longer a simple intruder, but also an experienced person, experiencing unfamiliar and untried routines.

 

Heidegger once said, "Near to us are what we usually call things ... an independent, self-supporting thing may become an object if we place it before us, whether in immediate perception or by bringing it to mind in a recollective re-presentation ... Today everything present is equally near and equally far …Nearness brings near-draws nigh to one another-the far and, indeed, as the far. Nearness preserves far- ness. Preserving farness, nearness presences nearness in nearing that farness. Bringing near in this way, nearness conceals its own self and remains, in its own way, nearest of all."

 

When I get involved in this daily life which is far away from me, the communication and perception in the place and context which are close to each other at that moment produce some reality in the present time.