“When I write poetry,
I let my walls crumble.”
Zane Žeivate belongs to the young generation of Latvian artists. Her art serves as a platform for
addressing critical issues surrounding women’s rights, emotions, and experiences, with recent focus on the position of Central Eastern European Diaspora artists within broader contemporary global art discourse.
Inspired by urban landscapes, Zane selects familiar, functional metal elements and structures from the cityscape, with the aim to manipulate and deconstruct them.
Zane writes poetry and embroiders on spatial objects that she creates, sews, screws and welds with her hands making and constructing visual metaphors that offers new associations within existing framework of spatia and political structures that are present in the city.
Through these interventions, she seeks to reshape how the built environment is perceived, encouraging a shift in how we objectify and understand our
surroundings.
“I am fascinated by creating ladders that seem impossible to climb.They may appear inviting,especially to the smaller viewers,but it quickly becomes clear that they won’t take you far,as they are filled with various metaphorical distortions.
Ladders,which in society's understanding symbolize progress,in my creative process become a way to question the everyday actions that we accept as the path to progress.”
Zane Žeivate (1993) living and working between Manchester, Amsterdam, and Riga. Graduated from Studio for Immediate Spaces, Sandberg Institute, Gerrit Rietveld Academy (MA, 2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Riga
Technical University, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning (BA, 2017, Riga, Latvia).
Since 2021, Zane Žeivate as artist has participated in several group shows and projects in Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Georgia an China: “Terrible Event” (2022, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Love for Sale: Alles moet weg?” (2021, W139, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Roots and Wings” (2021, Het Hem, Amsterdam, Netherlands), “Finally, Things are Happening” (2021, Reneenee, Amsterdam Netherlands), “Women are Fashioning” (2021, Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival, Xiamen, China).
In 2022 Zane Žeivate debuted with her solo exposition “Diary of Structures: 24.06.22” in HIVE, Tbilisi Art Fair (Tbilisi, Georgia), and in 2023 - with her solo show “As Long As YouWant” (Maksla XO Gallery, Riga, Latvia). As well as she has participated in the
international art fairs: POSITIONS Berlin (2024, 2023), ArtVilnius (2024, 2022).
In 2021, Zane Zeivate published her essay book, “Your Wrist Smells Like Orange”.