Velta Esmeralda Kalnozola-Kalsere ^{Emerging artist}

Artist is based in: Latvia

Velta Esmeralda Kalnozola-Kalsere is a Latvian artist who holds a BA in Painting from the Art Academy of Latvia and has also studied at the École Supérieure d’Art Annecy Alpes (ESAAA) in France. During her time in France, she developed a multidisciplinary approach that merges painting with text, audio, video, and graphics, often structured as diary-like narratives. Her project TAPI, for example, combines multiple media to explore layered storytelling.

Kalnozola-Kalsere’s works frequently juxtapose brutality and poetic visual expression. Paintings such as 2D and Poor_noaddress themes of violence, greed, and media-driven disasters, yet present them in a calm, almost meditative way. Drawing inspiration from current events, social media, oral stories, and public encounters, she engages with the absurd, the fabricated, and the fictive to reflect on contemporary society.

Her installations often function as fragmented plots, in which the viewer becomes an active participant. By combining contrasting forms—audio, video, painting, and drawing—she seeks formats that provoke questions about personal and collective positions. Kalnozola-Kalsere’s interest in sound, influenced by the musician Maria Teriaeva and the collective Alimenti, plays a central role in her practice, where poetry and melody intersect. She has also collaborated with filmmaker Emilija Ding, gaining experience in filming, editing, and scripting that informs the cinematic dimension of her work.