The Exhibition “In a Shirt of Happiness”

Starting on 25 April, an exhibition of paintings by Gita Šmite, “In a Shirt of Happiness”, will be on view at the Sabile Art, Culture and Tourism Centre (in the former synagogue building). The exhibition in Sabile continues Gita’s exhibition at the Ola faundation art space a year ago and will be supplemented by works created over the past year. The exhibition will open with a musical afternoon, “Soundscapes”.

One of the exhibition’s central images is a small white linen shirt sewn by the artist’s mother while awaiting her birth. Everything is just as simple as it appears: a tree, a landscape, a shirt, a nest. A pure and unaffected view of the world. And yet Gita Šmite’s professional mastery of painting transforms this tenderness into an unshakeable strength. We see a story about the land, parents, children and memories—about the bonds that invisibly unite families and people, even when we do not feel them or think about them every day. The paint-laden surface of the paintings creates an elusive, profound inner tension in the viewer. Paint is applied in layers with a palette knife and brushstrokes. From the rough painting emerge the lines of branches in a nest, the lattice of an oak’s crown, a string on a shirt, a lit window in the dusk. A hazy, dim light highlights what is essential and evokes a sense of peace, simplicity and home.
Musicians Ieva Buiķe and Grieta Janberga have created a special programme, “Soundscapes”, based on motifs from Gita’s exhibition; they will interpret them through Latvian folk songs and the sounds of the cello, guitar, kokle, chimes and other evocative instruments.
At 4:00 p.m. on 25 April, the musical afternoon “Soundscapes” will open a space where ancestral roots, the rhythms of nature and the depth of silence meet. Following the concert, at 5:00 p.m., there will be the opening of the exhibition “In a Shirt of Happiness”—a meeting and conversation with the artist.
The exhibition will be on view at the Sabile Art, Culture and Tourism Centre until 28 June.
During the exhibition, visitors are invited to attend the following events planned at the centre:

• 16 May: Rihards Saule’s concert “Love of My Life”
• 23 May, 6:00 p.m.–midnight: as part of the Museum Night event “Night of Light in Sabile”—stories about things, people and time—the exhibition will come alive in the glow of the night.
• 13 June, 4:00 p.m.: the exhibition will be complemented by the concert “Presence of the Heart”, dedicated to the centre’s fifth anniversary, featuring vocalist Alina Feodorova, pianist Veronika Rinkule, cellist Jānis Rinkulis and oboist Adele Stafecka.
• 20 June: the exhibition will take on the atmosphere and themed activities of the solstice celebrations.