Latvijas Mediji Publishing has released journalist Vintra Vilcāne’s collection of essays, “Comb Your Hair.” Photographs of paintings by Ginta Stavrovska, design by Egils Mednis.
The book launch celebration will take place on October 25 this year at the Ola Foundation cultural venue. Admission to the event is by invitation.
Journalist Vintra Vilcāne is the author of articles and columns beloved by many readers. Her interests have always included art, film, theater, and literature, as well as the inner world of the human being. The vignettes of sensation collected in the book lend solemnity to everyday experience because, as the author herself says, “I don’t want to rush past myself and fail to notice the imprints left by life.” The feelings painted by Vintra’s sister, artist Ginta Stavrovska, the moments captured in color, and the light and shadows resonate sensitively with the essays.
“I wrote these essays, or vignettes of sensation, at the lowest point of my life. I had left my job, fallen ill, and the world was locked down because of COVID. I lay in bed, watching the loose thread of the curtain shimmer in the sunlight, and wondered whether a person could possibly feel any sadder. Could sadness be captured, then dried out and pinned to paper with thumbtacks? It turned out that, to some extent, it could. Once I had written about the curtains, about insomnia, about the skies that are different every day, about the tit that runs to the window in the morning, about the sea murmuring in my ears, I understood that emotions are like tides. They rise and recede. What remains? The joy of observing. It never leaves me. Just like the joy of writing in a notebook with an ordinary pencil every morning. About anything. I don’t want to rush past myself and fail to notice the imprints left by life. So I collect them in my personal library. If you can read a story within yourself, you can tell it to others as well. Feelings can also be painted. My sister, who has known me for a very long time, was willing to join the creative process, and that is how “Comb Your Hair!” came about. Vintra Vilcāne.
“I once met Vintra in a café. It was lunchtime. She was slowly sipping a sparkling drink and smiling. She had just bought beautiful shoes and did not want to rush on immediately, but to pause the moment for a while. There are not many people who know how to transform everyday situations and observations into deeply personal stories of feeling. Vintra is such a person - her essays are feminine, witty, emotional paintings of situations and feelings in words. A flow of associations, references to art, literature, and film. Wonderful language. Reading these essays, I felt present in the events, as if I were talking with the author while sipping the champagne of her life.” Inga Gorbunova, editor-in-chief of I’mperfekt magazine and ReTv.
“When we open the book’s cover, we enter a fairy tale where everything is real. These are plaster casts of moments. Down to the tiniest details, Vintra examines each moment she has chosen from the present and, without sorting them by their emotional range, treats each one as her most precious treasure. She looks into each one so deeply that everything settles into balance. The reader has the joy of delighting in these word paintings and drawing genuine inspiration from them. Learning to anchor not only joyful moments, but to be a connoisseur of one’s life at all times.
Feeling the verbal and visual harmony of the two sisters (Vintra’s sister Ginta Stavrovska’s illustrations), one wants to call them both one’s own sisters as well. Shall we pick up a comb?” Indra Sproģe, artist.
