Human Baltic — Baltic Humanist Photography 1960 to 1990

“Human Baltic” brings together works by masters of Baltic humanist photography from 1960 to 1990, a period when life behind the Iron Curtain existed in two parallel realities. In one, everything had to be in order – plans were fulfilled, people smiled, and slogans promised a bright future. In the other, everyday life lived on with its quiet perseverance: empty counters and queues, but also intimate joys, holidays, moments at the seaside, market days and domestic customs that did not fit into the frames of the “official image”.

The photographers in this exhibition from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania moved between these two realities. Some broke the propagandistic illusion almost imperceptibly – through small shifts in gaze, space or silence. Others found gaps where the system that controls everything was not yet fully present, and there they preserved the person as he or she really is: fragile and defiant, strange and funny, tired and gentle. Humanism here does not mean embellishment, but closeness and honest attention to the person in his or her everyday life.

Many of the photographs exhibited in the exhibition invite the viewer to read between the lines. In Soviet times, this skill was essential for survival – public language and the language of images were often twofold. Even today, in the information field, where carefully curated images and narratives compete for attention and trust, this skill is just as important: to notice whose interests the image speaks for and what it leaves unsaid.

As such, “Human Baltic” is not just an exhibition of Baltic humanist photography, but an invitation to look more slowly, to doubt, and to search for authenticity. For the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Centre, this exhibition is also important because it brings into focus the authors and generations whose work has shaped our common visual memory, even if they do not fit into the hurried logic of novelty and “emerging talents” of today’s art scene.

The exhibition was originally conceived in collaboration with organisations from the Baltic states and Japan and was presented in Tokyo in the spring of 2024. The gaze of another cultural space confirmed that these stories are not local exceptions, but cross-border human experiences.

The exhibition was supported by: The Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Tallinn, Ibis Styles Tallinn, Artglass, HRX.

We would like to thank our long-term partners: City of Tallinn, Telliskivi Creative City, Taevas Ogilvy, Tikkurila, Ajar Studios, and Pakendi.

The exhibition opening is supported by the Embassy of Latvia and A. Le Coq.