Artist Franceska Kirke: A garden in Bieriņi that shelters wildlife and celebrates pink
Artist Franceska Kirke and her husband, cinematographer Andrejs Sileniекs, tend a garden in Bieriņi designed to support local wildlife while also reflecting a softer, romantic side of the artist. Known for stark, austere works, Kirke embraces a love of pink in her garden.
In Bieriņi, artist Franceska Kirke and her husband, cinematographer Andrejs Sileniекs, care for a garden that serves as a haven for bees, hedgehogs, birds and other creatures. The garden includes flowers especially favored by bees, and a dead tree has deliberately been left standing to provide a habitat for insects.
The lawn is mowed less often than usual, a choice that helps preserve greater plant diversity and creates better conditions for the garden's animal residents.
Where ecology meets aesthetics
While environmental care is central to the garden's design, it does not come at the expense of beauty. Kirke notes that, unlike the starkness often found in her artwork, the garden allows her to express a more romantic side — including an admitted fondness for the color pink.
As a result, the garden in Bieriņi has become both an eco-friendly refuge for bees, hedgehogs and birds, and a space where the artist's personality reveals a gentler, more tender dimension.
