CREATURES
Sanita Ābelīte (Latvia)
Creatures are living beings – animals and people, beasts of the forest and the field, the waters and the skies. Creatures are also the fantastic beings of ancient myths – neither entirely animal nor fully human, suspended between two worlds.
More broadly, creatures are what humans bring into existence in a creative act. Creation turns idea into form – imagination made incarnate. These creatures are the artist’s way of bringing it to life.
Born in 1978 in Kuldīga, Sanita Ābelīte graduated from the Liepāja Secondary School of Applied Arts in 2004. In 2010, she earned a Master’s in Arts from the Art Academy of Latvia, specialising in ceramics. Since 2006, Ābelīte has held solo exhibitions and taken part in residencies, group shows, and symposiums across Latvia and abroad – in Denmark, Belarus, Italy, Northern Cyprus, China, and beyond.
At the Martinsons Award 2023 – the international contemporary ceramics competition and flagship exhibition of the 4th Latvia Ceramics Biennale – she won Gold in the national category as the highest-scoring Latvian artist and earned the right to organise a solo exhibition during the biennale’s fifth edition.
The artworks featured in “Creatures” were made specifically for this occasion. Displayed together, the exhibition’s many characters all come alive in a cohesive composition, inviting viewers to step into a finely crafted, multi-layered world that demonstrates the artist’s nuanced creative vision.
The exhibition is organised by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics in collaboration with the Rothko Museum.
Supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.
Curated by Valentīns Petjko and Aivars Baranovskis.
On view at the Rothko Museum’s Martinsons House from 5 September to 23 November 2025.
Publicity image: Sanita Ābelīte. “Creatures”. Ceramics, varied sizes, 2025
