City of Goats
My work in progress “City of Goats” dealt with nearby Covas do Monte village. It is a village that seems to have changed little over the centuries, still keeping its traditional way of life. I explored the architecture of this small community with photographic means, making use of both straight and computer-enhanced photography.
In the beginning I was afraid I could be intruding people’s intimacy, of being rude, of changing something in their lives-because I didn’t want to change anything. Most times the camera is an intruder, but I think people welcomed me very easily.
In Covas do Monte I tried to take pictures of people in their natural context, where they belong. When I photograph I try to get some kind of a “mental approval”,because other wise the result would be wrong. If someone doesn’t want to be photographed then nothing good can come out of it. I want to photograph people in their natural environment, in their happiness, because I think these people really live happy lives. I think these people are the richest people in this universe because they live where they belong. Most of them live where they were born and they will die in the same place; they won’t die in the hospital or some other dying institutions.
Peeter Laurits (1962) is an Estonian visual artist whose work is developed around photography. He carried his studies in the cities of Tallinn, Tartu, San Petersburg and New York. He has been exhibiting his work internationally since 1989. He was co-founder of the art collectives De Studio and Open Valley Studio. Some of Peeter Laurit’s works are part of collections such as the Estonian Art Museum, the Tartu Art Museum, KIASMA, the Norton Dodge collection and many other private and public collections. Presently he lives in a forest located on the south of Estonia, by the Kütiorg valley.