Thanks to the Red Sun Buffet Beach Bar gift, Liepāja has just acquired another beautiful mural painting – a portrait of the poet Mirdza Ķempe, created by the graffiti artist Elementton on Ūliha Street 38b.
“Liepāja has been a hometown or an important stop-off for many Latvian famous and recognized personalities. By painting the city buildings, we thus show their faces and remind on them people, especially a younger generation, highlighting their connection with our city”, says Mareks Alberts, the co-owner of the Red Sun Buffet Beach Bar. “The graffiti of Mirdza Ķempe is a next step in the line of similar events. The previous one we supported was the mural painting of the composer Imants Kalniņš on Ausekļa Street, celebrating his 80th birthday. And we hope this won’t be our last project. Moreover, this is the first painting on an electricity transformer substation, which integrates this facility in the urban environment on more aesthetic level, not only serving its practical purpose”, says Mareks Alberts.
Mirdza Ķempe was born in the poor local working-class family in Liepāja, her parents were Tosmare factory workers Janis Ķempe and Lina Ķempe. She grew to become a vivid and controversial personality. She learned English, German, French, Russian and Spanish languages, proudly kept her native Latvian cultural and national values and traditions while praising the Soviet regime and ideology at the same time. A talented poet, a translator and a transcreation writer.
The mural graffiti idea was implemented thanks to the involvement and support of SIA GrafImport Ltd, the restaurant “Pumpurs Māja” and the electricity distribution network operator AS “Sadales Tīkls” JSC.