Meeting with the Authors of the Exhibition “Arrival Letters 到來書”

On July 31 at 6:00 PM, the Ojārs Vācietis Museum at Ojārs Vācietis Street 19, Riga, invites you to meet the authors of the exhibition “Arrival Letters 到來書”. The exhibition's creation involved collaboration with writer, poet, and journalist Alise Īlene, sound artist Reinis Semēvics, as well as producer, composer, and vocalist Maria-Carmela Raso (Canada, Iceland), also known as MSEA, who resides in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The exhibition is part of the zine festival “Sābrs”, which took place on July 5–6 in Āgenskalns, Riga. The festival focuses on zines – small-scale artistic publications – and aims to strengthen the collaboration between artists and small publishers, as well as introduce the wider public to this art form.

Regarding the installation and multilingual poetry project, Sui Lam shares: “After a long journey, ‘Arrival Letters 到來書’ finally returns to the place where the idea for the work originated – Latvia. It is truly a special feeling to share this poetic light installation at the Ojārs Vācietis Museum. Ojārs Vācietis loved maps, letters, and travels, closely resonating with the theme of this project. The work is also connected to memories of my first letter, which included a small hand-drawn map, as at that time, I was trying to establish a connection with the other shore of the Baltic Sea.

‘Arrival Letters 到來書’ is an artwork that began with an old personal interest that inspired me to learn the Latvian language and learn more about life beyond the Baltic Sea. At that time, the war had just begun in Ukraine. I was living in Sweden and was concerned about the people across the sea, who were important to me. I started reading news and local literature to understand what people in the Baltics and Eastern Europe truly feel, thus learning more than often told by Western media.

Reading more texts written in Latvia, something special happened to me. The literature not only taught me but also comforted me. I come from Hong Kong, where our language and culture are also suppressed, so I felt connected to these stories and voices. Gradually, I began to create art about the feeling of being alone in new places, searching for home, surrounded by many different languages.

This work, titled “順風 á ferðalaginu”, was first showcased in 2022 in Finland at the Aavistus Festival. Later, I developed it into an installation using light, glass, and text. In 2024, it returned to the Aavistus Festival with a new title: “Planes of Encounter”. The project explores identity, difference, and how language shapes our experiences.

The installation will feature poetry in many languages, including Cantonese and several European languages, but not in English. The poetry does not have translations, meaning each viewer will understand something different. “The idea of the work is to make visitors slow down, look, feel, and listen. You might recognize some words. You might help someone else in languages you know, or you might use a translation app on your phone to understand more. It's completely normal not to understand everything – that is often the feeling when in a new country,” the artist explains.

The text consists of poems, song lyrics, and film scripts about travel, arrival, and thoughts on identity, which move through glass like light at different speeds, changing shape and color. It shows how difficult it can be to speak, express, and understand feelings with words, and how beautiful language can be when viewed from different angles.

Within the exhibition, there will be workshops and creative masterclasses with both the exhibition author and Latvian artists, including writer Alise Īlene and musician Reinis Semēvics. The personal stories, letters, and ideas obtained in the workshops will be transformed into various art forms together with artists. The stories and writings shared during the workshops will later be included in a magazine. Dates will be announced later.

Sui Lam (林淼, Hong Kong) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, writer, and translator from Hong Kong, currently living between the borders of the Nordic countries, Baltic States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and Japan, searching for home.

Sui Lam works in the fields of audiovisual installations, video, photography, graphics, typography, and design, as well as writing, translation, and cultural research. Sensitive and with deep curiosity about human stories and identities, Sui transforms both personal and shared experiences into visual and poetic works that invite reflection and conversation.

Using multilingual poetry and audiovisual experiments, Sui Lam explores themes such as identity, gender, home, and estrangement from a personal, social, and political perspective. Recently, the artist has been particularly interested in the often unnoticed connections between Latvian and Asian narratives. Sui Lam's works create a space for exploring the intersection of language, memory, and culture, offering new ways to connect across borders and differences.

The exhibition can be viewed at the museum from July 22 to August 30.

Entrance fee: 2.00 EUR, for students, pupils, and retirees: 1.00 EUR