Pool
Video, 2012
On her way to work on 21 August 1991, Valeria experienced strange anxiety, and upon leaving her house could do no more than sit down on the nearby bench. She sat and watched the pool, which had no water in it any more. For as long as she could remember there had always been water in the pool. But on this day it had suddenly disappeared. She sat and thought of the 54 years of her life, and of the fact that in a year’s time she would retire and then be able to sit and stare like this all day. The only thing to trouble her was the missing water of the pool. In the evening her husband came home from work. He sat down next to his wife and told her that the Soviet Union had collapsed, and that the factory would be closed. I knew something was wrong, said Valeria; I had a bad feeling all day. And then there was all that water missing from that pool... And so they sat and sat, and are still sitting to this day.
Artist's Bio:
Aija Bley is a photographer, video artist and film director. Graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture in film direction, studied art history at the Art Academy of Latvia. Bley is author of numerous video and animation films and documentaries; she has also taken part in filming in exotic locations in extreme conditions. Her works have been shown in numerous video and film festivals abroad. Time, life and reality per se are in centre of Aija Bley’s works. She succeeds in capturing the colouring of a particular subject of interest rather than projecting her own artistic view. One of her long-term interests is documenting the footprints of Soviet culture in contemporary society – this has been the theme of her personal work as well as in „15 Mad Sheep” – a collaborative project with documentary director Elvita Ruka. „15 Mad Sheep” is a travelogue about contemporary life and people met while travelling in that were formerly part of USSR. (I.A.)