'Children of the Sun' is an exhibition of new paintings by Jana Brike, exploring the human experience through mythology. Opening reception: Saturday Nov 23rd, 6 - 9pm. This exhibition will run from Nov 24th - Dec 13th and will coincide Luke Chueh's It Is What It Is, Jeff Gillette's Disillusioned, Jale Soysal's Red Reflections and Larysa Bernhardt's Sublimations. Jana Brike's work reflects personal, meaningful human experiences—love, womanhood, sisterhood, motherhood, pain, mortality, spiritual understanding, and the inner journeys she has traversed. The creative process is both grounding and transcendent, allowing her to connect deeply with life’s physicality while moving beyond suffering through acceptance and insight. In this body of work, Brike engages more directly with mythological thinking. Myths, for her, are not literal or confined to specific religious beliefs but symbolically reveal eternal truths about human existence and the psyche. "Once upon a time" represents events in eternal time, happening universally and continuously. The fifteen new paintings loosely reference myths, legends, and fairy tales, such as Mercury, the Styx, the Green Man, Bluebeard, witches, and angels. These works do not aim to illustrate these stories but to symbolise internal journeys—vulnerability, strength, life, death, beauty, and the desire for immortality. Nature is a constant presence, with lush landscapes, flowers, birds, and elements like water and fire at the forefront. Brike views nature not as external but as intertwined with human emotion and states. In her work, nature mirrors the internal landscapes of the soul—seas, clouds, sunshine, and moonlight all represent the emotional territories of the human heart. Jana Brike, born in Soviet-occupied Latvia in 1980, creates paintings rich with personal symbolism. Her work explores themes of growth, innocence, and transcendence through mythological and nature-based imagery. Growing up under Soviet restrictions, she found solace in nature, a key motif in her art. Brike continues to live and work in Riga.