RogovkaLV
Rogovka (historically also Nautrēni) is a village in Latvia’s eastern Latgale region, an area with a distinct culture and language. The saying "Crazy or from Rogovka" is well-known throughout Latgale, emphasizing the village's local gravity.
Despite its small population of around 240 residents, the village hosts several institutions including the parish administration, Nautrēni Secondary School, a kindergarten, a sports hall-culture house, a library, a local history museum, a youth center and the Nautrēni Roman Catholic Church. The secondary school also accommodates Children’s Art School and the Methodological Center of Latgale Cultural History and Latgalian Language. Next to a few agriculture businesses, notable spaces of private cultural and entrepreneurial activity are a permaculture gardening School and metal forger workshop.
Rogovka's inhabitants are the most proud of the disproportional number of poets, writers, artists, significant cultural workers, politicians and clergy members that have been born here or in the surrounding area. Though so small, Rogovka holds surprising place in political and cultural significance in Latgalian, Latvian, Eastern European and European anti-imperial histories. Particularly during the period when the Latgalian language was suppressed heavily and publications in the Latin script were banned. In response, a vibrant culture of hand-rewriting books emerged. While this history is remembered within the village, it has often gone untold or unheard.
| Region | Latgale |
|---|---|
| Local partners |
|
| Population | 237 |
| Common fruit, vegetables, animals | Storks |
| Tradition | Annual Latgalian poetry slam, Latgalian literature contest, Folk ensemble festival, permaculture festival |
| Scent | wet soil after a thunderstorm |
| Distances from Rogovka | Distances |
Reportage from the creative residency that took place in early July coming soon. More activities are planned in September - so stay tuned!
Sneak peak:
Eternal Calendar essay
Indra Gleizde 's essay accompanied the photo series Eternal Calendar, presented at the Prospects show at ArtRotterdam (March 27–30, 2025) - read more below.
The essay is a collection of notes and reflections gathered during the process of making the project. Read it now - it will go offline on August 25, 2025.
✹ Myužeygays Kalinders (Eternal Calendar) is a Latgalian manuscript by Andryvs Jūrdžs, featuring sunrise and sunset times, seasonal farming tasks, folk songs, tales, Catholic prayers, and original poems. The practice of handwriting and copying books emerged in the Latgale region as a response to Russian imperial Russification policies, which culminated in a complete ban on Latin script (1865-1904). Jūrdžs, a self-taught farmer from Nautrēni (Rogovka), wrote, hand-copied, and distributed books among local communities. With limited access to formal education or printed Latgalian texts, his writing captures the region’s spoken language with self-invented orthographic solutions.
Introduction
The Latvian village of Rogovka sits on the outer edge of the European Union, near a volatile eastern border. Here, the villagers have fiercely safeguarded their Latgalian language and traditions against a history of forced deportations, language bans, and totalitarian violence, and even through an ongoing resistance to a singular Latvian national narrative. It is here, and in the broader Latgale region, that the escalation into a major war might unfold.
Yet just as dangerous as this external threat are the oversimplified stories told about regions in Eastern Europe like Latgale. Flattened narratives of russification, erasure, and victimhood obscure the cultural depth and long histories of resistance and agency carried by the people here—those who have fought for their freedom, generation after generation, and have, time and again, prevailed.
My grandparents grew up in Rogovka. The threat feels to me deeply personal, like an unbearable inheritance of pain and responsibility, carried within a collective identity, the land and its spirits. I feared I might not be strong enough to bear it. This project has been my way of learning how to live and create from within that weight. And where I expected only thorns, I found gifts of rootedness and resilience.
Read full essay HERE and learn more about the project on Indra's website.
The photo series Eternal Calendar was presented at the MondriaanFonds exhibition Prospects during ArtRotterdam 2025 (March 27–30).
For more than a year (2024–2025), alongside making contacts, researching the place, and having conversations with locals, with the idea of eventually developing a collective art project or initiative, Indra Gleizde also worked on a personal project funded by the Mondriaan Fonds.
Under the title Eternal Calendar at Prospects, the project was presented through photographs and an essay.
Briefly about it:
The Latvian village of Rogovka lies on the edge of the European Union, near a threatening eastern neighbor. The villagers have fiercely preserved their Latgalian language and traditions against a history of forced deportations, language bans, and totalitarian violence, and even through an ongoing resistance to a singular Latvian national narrative.
My grandparents grew up here, and visiting the village, I had to wonder: how have people there remained free, time and again? I once heard that true freedom, real sovereignty, is acting out what is true within you when it is not required of you.
Learn more on Indra's website
In January Indra Gleizde returned again to the mysterious Latgalian village—one full of stories still waiting to be heard. We gathered with local friends for a thought exchange about the role of contemporary art in rural settings. How accessible is it? Does it matter to the villagers? Why should it matter? Why do cities overlook rural art and stories? We reflected on the unequal relationship between centers and peripheries, questioning how art can bridge these divides. Future plans began to take shape.
Before this trip, Indra had visited Rogovka several times and spent 2024 working on an ongoing personal project there. More details coming soon.
| Region | Latgale |
|---|---|
| Local partners |
|
| Population | 237 |
| Common fruit, vegetables, animals | Storks |
| Tradition | Annual Latgalian poetry slam, Latgalian literature contest, Folk ensemble festival, permaculture festival |
| Scent | wet soil after a thunderstorm |
| Distances from Rogovka | Distances |