Landscape of Defence – Postcards from the Borderland
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU’s eastern external borders have undergone profound changes: kilometers of fences, guard towers, surveillance systems and anti-tank barriers have been installed, making the border increasingly physically tangible. What used to be an abstract line on the map, is now a real, designed landscape of demarcation.
Latvia has also fortified its eastern border in this way in recent years. Work is still underway, but the area has already changed considerably.
The postcard leporello collects nine photographs by Reinis Hofmanis from the so-called “Borderland” – a two kilometer wide strip along the 420 km long Latvian eastern border. This territory, which can now only be entered with a special permit, is much more than a military buffer zone: It is also a habitat, a place of research, and a cultural landscape. Here you will find villages, scientific facilities – such as the largest beetle collection in the Baltic region – as well as newly built border and defense facilities.
The photos document the encounter between nature, military presence and everyday life on the outermost edge of Europe and give an insight into a landscape that is now part of the new reality of European border politics.