Hobby
Photography, 2012
I started my photography project last autumn, while studying architecture at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. I was looking for a way to take my mind off my intense studies, and wanted to learn how my coursemates were dealing with the problem – if they had any time for themselves. After long classes that end late at night, after doing home assignments till 3 a.m. almost every night, after giving up sleep to make deadlines. These days the expectations for quality of life are high, and many young people do almost the impossible to reach them, forgetting about rest, relaxation and breaks from the routine. An excerpt from a project conversation with a subject: ‘Do you have a hobby?’ ‘I don’t know...’ ‘Some passion, something you do regularly, or almost every day, just to relax or to improve yourself outside of your everyday occupation?’ ‘Yes, I do have a hobby. I couldn’t live without swimming. For me it is like eating every day. I go to the pool after work three times a week. Water sports energize me.’ Hobby tells of those who are not able to fully commit to downshifting. Ten young people from different countries, photographed in Latvia, Milan and New York, tell of their ten different hobbies – swimming, sketching, playing the guitar, collecting small natural objects. (E.B.)
Downshifting? I often fly with just a single carryon. I’m tired of packing heaps of clothes, of figuring out what to wear every day while travelling – it is a nuisance. There’s more freedom in leaving with just the clothes you’re wearing.
Artist's Bio:
Elīne Buka has graduated from Riga Design and Art College, she studied interior design at the University of Latvia, spending one semester at the Politecnico di Milano in Milan. Buka has been a member of the Ogre photography club since 2010. In photography she looks for the boundary between excess and minimalism, urban and regional, light and shadow, linear and square, socially developed and its opposite. Buka’s works have been exhibited in a solo show ”Colour” in the restaurant KID in Riga, as well as in group shows in Ikšķile, Ogre and Laubere. (E.B.)