Social Critique of the Soviet Regime in Ivars Poikāns’ works from 1987 till 1990
Social Critique of the Soviet Regime in Ivars Poikāns’ works from 1987 till 1990

Summary/Abstract: In recent years disability studies as an academic research field and a critical theory have emerged in Latvia, focusing on disability laws and regulations in Latvia (Kulačovska, 2018; Baikovska, 2019), employment issues (Broka, Mihailova and Demme-Vimba, 2017) and representation in mass media (Lūse and Kamerāde 2014). However, art and visual culture are still largely unexplored, especially art created during the Soviet period. This raises questions: How was the diversity of bodies represented during the Soviet times? Did the representation also include people with disabilities and, if so, how were they represented? The article analyses the Latvian artist Ivars Poikāns’ works from 1987–1989 from the disability studies perspective. Focusing on the depiction of the body and social and political narratives, the text investigates body representation in Soviet Latvia, artistic ways of protesting against the regime, and whether the artist used disability as a metaphor or form of activism to support civil rights.

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