Kathie Stove
Kathie Stove writes about Bernadette Klavins in Neoterica 2024.
Steadfast
This artwork is the story of one and it is the story of many.
Bernadette Klavins has made her mark in the art world with physical, earthy, strong sculptures that interrogate the human relationship with the planet we live on. Unearthed, in 2018, referenced her grandfather and his physical labours of building the family home in suburban Adelaide. Now, Bernadette is placing him in the light.
Juris Klavins was just 19 when his life was overturned.
Juris worked on his family’s farm in Jēkabpils, Latvia, a farm boy in a changing world. Soviet and German occupation deeply impacted political, cultural and family life in Latvia. By the end of the war, Latvia had 25% fewer people.1 In 1943, Juris was conscripted into the Latvian Legion, fighting Russia for Latvian territory on behalf of Germany. At the end of the war he could not return to a Latvia that was now part of the USSR. After time spent in a POW camp, Juris Klavins arrived at Camp Bonegilla, Victoria, in 1949.2 Juris was a worker. He quickly found allowed manual labour jobs and worked his way to South Australia.
In front of his Adelaide house, Juris planted two trees familiar from home, oaks (ozols in Latvian). One of two national trees of Latvia, the European Oak is a male figure in Latvian folklore, a symbol of masculinity and steadfastness.3
Central to the installation, the warm light of memory glows through luminous resin oak leaves. In my reading of Bernadette’s practice, sparse placements within her installations add a power and a fragility to her message. As I imagine it, the placement of the objects and memoirs will embrace the steadfast oak at the centre.
The suitcase connects a life lived in and between two worlds, both home. Wallpaper from the grandparents’ home lines the lid over soil to represent the soil brought from Latvia to be buried with Juris. A letter (translated) to Juris from his sister in Latvia casts more light onto a resin cast oak trunk. I suspect the labour-intensive physical nature of Bernadette’s art also reflects her grandfather’s life of labour.
At this time of vast migrations of people across the planet, many prompted by conflict, this story feels like success. And yet, like all migrant stories, it has many deep sadnesses.
In Latvia, ancient ozols still stand today, designated and protected by law as ‘Great Oaks’.4
‘After the passing of my grandparents, Clare and Juris Klavins, and the selling of their house, my sister collected acorns and oak leaves from the yard. Once the house changed ownership, the trees were removed a short time later.’5
1. Embassy of the Republic of Latvia to the United States of America, www.mfa.gov.lv/en
2. Bonegilla Migrant Experience, www.bonegilla.org.au/
3. Latvia's State Forests, www.lvm.lv/en/
4. Quora, www.quora.com/What-is-the-national-tree-of-Latvia
5. Bernadette Klavins
Kathie Stove is a writer and editor. Her career has spanned writing for government and business, while maintaining space and time for her two abiding loves, the natural environment and the arts (some actually paid work). Kathie moved to Kangaroo Island 20 years ago, the perfect place for her to indulge those interests. First, the environment – not as protected as it should be but we fight on with words and actions. Second, the arts – arts editor 2007–2013 of The Islander, KI’s weekly newspaper, writing a monthly arts page, and later compiling a self-published book Artists of the Art Part from the page’s artist profiles. She was instrumental in initiating and fostering the Island to Inland exhibition of 10 Kangaroo Island artists, which toured regional South Australia 2017–2019. For that exhibition, and the subsequent Island to Outback exhibition, She wrote blogs during development and the exhibition essays. Now, as driver of the project to plan and build the Art Museum of Kangaroo Island, She writes newsletters and other material. Kathie maintains close links with island artists through the Artists Collective KI, writing their newsletter, and the KI artists on Instagram series.