Māra Brašmane

Māra Brašmane (1944) is one of the most famous photographers in Latvia. Born in Liepāja. She has been self-taught in photography since 1962. In 1984, she graduated from the photo and film department of the Riga Cultural Workers' Technical School. She was a photographer at the Rundāle Palace Museum and the State Art Museum (now the Latvian National Museum of Art), and a lecturer in photo documentation at the Riga Building College. She has worked mainly in black and white photography, in her characteristic documentary style. In the 1970s/80s, she photographed her contemporaries in an informal environment, and also created social commentary. Since the beginning of 1964, M. Brašmane has participated in group and solo exhibitions both in Latvia and abroad. Her works have been exhibited at the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall, the Museum of Copenhagen, the Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art, The Rencontres d'Arles, Mumok, the Bournemouth Art Institute, the Gallery "No. 1" in Boston and elsewhere. Her photographs and reproductions of her works have been published in more than 50 books, albums, and catalogues.


Māra Brašmane's photographs, created mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, are an important visual testament to Latvian photographic art and cultural setting. They capture the unofficial environment of art and creative personalities, fragments of everyday life, and performative situations that reveal the social atmosphere of the era, expressions of freethinking, and the presence of alternative culture during the Soviet period. The body of work significantly complements the collection of works created in the photo collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art, providing a multi-layered insight into the cultural history of Latvia in the second half of the 20th century and strengthening the importance of Māra Brašmane as one of the most significant visual documenters of this period.

Ivonna Andersone. Around 1972

Māra Ķimele. 1970

Ruta Kreica. 1970

Maija Silmale. 70s

Laima Eglīte by Māra`s Pond. 1973

Andris Grīnbergs. “The Wedding of Jesus Christ”. 1972

Torņakalns. Fr. Brīvzemnieka Street. 1974

Lāčplēša Street. 1971

Series "Dance". 1965

Vaļņu iela. Early 70s

Ieva Brašmane. In Limbaži, in the old German cemetery. 1969

Hippie era. 1968

Dace Šaicanova Beinaroviča next to a poster stand. Around 1968

Vaļņu Street. Group in the gateway at "Kaza". 1968