JUMIS
(pronounced /iumɪs/)
I am a mostly Christchurch-based Latvian-New Zealand portrait photographer with a variety of photographic interests, but I am also drawn to street- and reportage-style genres. My love for Black & White photography came from working as a professional photographic printer back in ‘the day’.
I have a number of projects I am working on including ‘Latvieši Jaunzēlandē’ (Latvians in New Zealand) documenting Latvians and the descendants of Latvians living in New Zealand. I hope to complete this as a phootbook in mid-late 2025. If you are a Latvian, or of Latvian descent, currently living in New Zealand and would like to be part of this project please get in touch.
Who is ‘Jumis’?
Jumis is the Latvian pagan deity of the harvest, fertility, and wealth. He is symbolised by crossed stalks of grain. He is also a dualistic god and, when inverted Jumis symbolises death, destruction, and decay.
So why Jumis?
We are all burdened with the weight of history and the sins of the fathers are visited upon their sons.