Mārtiņš Sams, photographer and publicist, was drawn to the Liv-populated Baltic Sea coast in Kurzeme region. Sams combined his interest in photography and fishing and captured many aspects of Liv life. In the summer of 1920, Sams spent two weeks on an expedition to the Liv villages, capturing people, daily life, and architecture, with a special focus on fishing. Concurrently, he made travel notes, which were later published in the press. From today’s perspective, the locale and people seen in the photographs reveal everyday life of the time in the most authentic way. Sams gifted the photographs taken on the Liv coast, as well as many other coastal fishing photos to the current National History Museum of Latvia.
Livs through the eyes of others
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Transporting Emil Nestor Setälä’s expedition equipment from Miķeļtornis to Lielirbe, Ventspils county. 1912. Photo Vilho Setälä. Finnish Heritage Agency
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Smoker created from an old boat. Kolka, Ventspils county. 1912. Photo Vilho Setälä. Finnish Heritage Agency
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Pēteris Armands and Lība Krinkele string plaice for smoking. Lielirbe, Ventspils county. 1912. Photo Vilho Setälä. Finnish Heritage Agency
The Liv cultural space in Kurzeme region has been a field of active research for linguists and ethnographers since the 19th c., as the local features and vanishing traditions are of special interest for researchers. Finnish linguist Emil Nestor Setälä (1864-1935) studied the language and ethnography of the Finno-Ugric peoples and visited the Liv coast of northern Kurzeme several times. He went on an expedition in 1912 with his son Vilho (1892-1985), one of the pioneers of professional photography in Finland. Setälä’s photographs are some the earliest documentation of Liv culture. He captured fishing, clothing and its creation, building practices, beekeeping, and agriculture. The full names of the people were recorded in photo annotations but the object descriptions were noted in the Liv language. Numerous photographs were also taken during eleven expeditions of Lauri Kettunen (1885-1963).
On the roads of Latgale
The cultural landscape of Latgale region has developed over the centuries by different nationalities and religious groups living together; therefore, documentation of these special and diverse features was especially important. Mārtiņš Sams dedicated several of his publications to Latgale and supplemented them with magnificent ethnographic photographs. As the agrarian reform in 1920s included also the transition from villages to farmsteads, many new dwelling houses were erected. Capturing the vanishing local traditional architecture and through reflections on it, Sams emphasized and highlighted the decorative ornaments of the windows as a particularly compelling ethnographic motif. Sams’ attention was also drawn to the crucifixes that were an important part of traditions and the landscape of Latgale.
MĀRTIŅŠ SAMS
Mārtiņš Sams (1892-1941) was a publicist and photographer. He studied at the Nikolai Gymnasium in Riga, and his interest in ethnography and photography may have stemmed from his teacher and ethnographer Yuri Novoselov. Sams’ law studies at Moscow University were interrupted by the World War I, but after he returned to Latvia, he continued his studies at the University of Latvia and obtained a law degree.
Sams’ legacy, immortalized on photo paper, was important in the development of photo-ethnography. Moreover, he also fostered the idea of establishing a photo-ethnography centre under the current National History Museum of Latvian, organizing ethnographic expeditions and purposeful collection of ethnographic materials. Today, the National History Museum of Latvia holds 157 of Sams’ photographs, many of which depict Latgale region, as well as fishers, fishing gear, and fish processing on the Baltic seashore. These photographs, along with his descriptions of the lives of fishers, are still an important source for research into fishing traditions.
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