PIEDRUJA-DRUJA
Ongoing research-based architectural & multimedia project
on the Eastern EU borderland
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Developed together with Danute Līva
Piedruja-Druja is a research-based project focused on a village divided by the Latvia-Belarus border. The Daugava/Dzvina river splits the village, which also marks both a national and European Union boundary. Piedruja-Druja emerged in the 16th century on the Druja (Belarus) side and later extended across the river (Latvia). And since then, it has been continuously separated and united under various political powers. This history has cultivated a unique borderland identity, where the sense of self isn’t tied to a single nation but is shaped by multiple influences and the several languages spoken daily.
Borders aren’t simply places where something ends, and something else starts - they’re gradients, where cultures, identities, and languages blend together. Yet, the borderland is a space that is often exploited by those in power, by fragmenting locals’ lives and violating refugees’ basic human rights.
The project is ongoing and combines field trips, archival research, which are translated into architectural installations, exhibitions, drawings, and publications. Through articles, lectures, and public presentations, the work shares these findings and uses spatial and visual storytelling to reflect on life in the borderland. The project is a collaboration with Danute Līva, Latvian artistic researcher.
1. Research & Field Trips
The project began in 2024 with field trips to the village, including one visit to Druja in Belarus and two visits to Piedruja on the Latvian side. Over time, access to the borderland has become more restricted, as the Latvian government has introduced limitations on entering the area. During the field trips, the research focused on observation and conversations with local residents, revealing aspects of ongoing militarisation that are not widely discussed in public media, as well as personal stories about life in a divided village and the culture shared across the border.
View on Druja from Piedruja (photo: May 2024)
Surveillance tower in Piedruja (photo: April 2025)
Cut trees in the place of a future border wall along the river in Piedruja, Latvia (photo: April 2025)
Anti-tank barriers "dragonteeth" in Piedruja (photo: April 2025)
2. Mapping as Storytelling
The map of Piedruja–Druja is used as a storytelling tool. Apart from the physical layout of the village, it brings together past and present events that shape everyday life in the borderland—from the ferry that once connected both riverbanks to ongoing processes such as border wall construction and cigarette smuggling. Developed together with Danute Līva, the map is continuously updated and connects spatial observation with lived experience.
Findings from the research are translated into a series of installations that explore the spatial and social realities of life along the Eastern EU border. These installations are conceived as parts of a growing, immersive exhibition that reveals a complex narrative of the borderland.
3. Installation
4. Publications
Another part of the project takes the form of publications that bring together essays and drawings.
In 2025, an article Stuck between politics and walls. A walk in Piedruja-Druja was published online in FOLD.
An essay Piedruja-Druja accompanied by a series of drawings, was published in Latvijas Architektūra
(print issue, August 2025).
