From 23rd July till 14th August the visitors of Cesis Art festival 2011 were welcomed to visit the exhibition Ilgas of Alnis Stakle, the winner of the global contest Sony World Photography Award 2011.

Ilgas manor house, built in baroque style during the1890s, currently holds the study basis of Daugavpils University (Latvia). Located in the border zone between Latvia and Belarus it can be only visited with a special State Border Guard permission. “During my first visit at Ilgas, I have met 45 female students living there in extreme survival-reality-show-like conditions. I was amazed by the symbiosis of the interior of the ancient manor house and these young ladies. In fashion photography, films and many documentary photography projects similar combinations of the female body and old interior are exploited to create narrations where the combination of lust, sexuality and environment’s apparent menace is used as an instrument to draw viewers’ attention. My aim in photographing the Ilgas series was, by drawing on the characteristic language of documentary photography, to reveal the documentary narration and create images that can be interpreted by using a wide range of meaning constructions from the viewer’s past experience” reflects Alnis Stakle.

All of the photos were glazed with Artglass™ by GroGlass®. ”Thanks to Artglass™ the appearance of my photos was absolutely phenomenal. This certainly was the best design of the exhibition I have ever had. I had to convince a number of the visitors, that there is any glass in front of my pictures”, points out Alnis Stakle after the exhibition.