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Inta Ruka |
On Wednesday, the 3rd of March 2010 the Baukunst Galerie opens a remarkable solo-exhibition with black and white photos of the Latvian photographer Inta Ruka. It is already our fourth exhibition of her œuvre. In 2003 the series “My Country People“ was shown, which represented Latvia on the 48th Venice Biennale. In 2005 an exhibition of portraits from the series “People I happened to meet” (since 2000) and “Amalias Street 5” (since 2004) followed. The progression and elaboration of the last series was the subject of the solo-show in 2007. In the current exhibition focuses on the families and environments of the two girls Iveta Tavare and Natasha Kurova, who play a major role in the series “My Country People” and “Amalias Street 5”. Furthermore selected key works of both series will be primarily presented in the format 100 x 97 cm (instead of 35 x 33,5 cm).
Inta Ruka, born in Riga in 1958, photographs the people of her country since more than two decades. On her portraits the surrounding is always visible as a result of taking pictures from a medium distance. This way the spectator gradually receives an impression of the social environment of the portrayed persons. This impression is completed by the diary notes, which the artist has written on the exhibition walls below her photos. These texts fragmentary and concentrated tell the spectator of the life story, fears and hopes of the portrayed people.
In the series “My Country People“ (1984-2000) the artist deals with the rural area Balvi where she spent her childhood. In her frequent excursions to the countryside of Latvia she focuses on the family Tavare, whose faces and history have been captured in this photographic series for more than twenty years. In the exhibition this biographic and social documentation of the poor, rural population is vividly clarified in the portraits of Iveta Tavare, whose childhood, youth and adolescence Inta Ruka has reflected in her gelatin silver prints. In “My Country People” the time seems to stand still and the photos appear almost historic. By contrast the series “Amalias Street 5” provides an undisguised view on the current state of flux in Latvia since its integration into the EU. Using the example of a certain building complex in the capital Riga Inta Ruka impressively demonstrates the wide spectrum of the Latvian population by juxtaposing those two contrasting series. Over the years the artist built up a very personal relationship to the inhabitants. Inta Ruka portrays the environment of the girl Natasha Kurova as an example for the crowded housing conditions of many townspeople in Riga, who often live in ruinous buildings which can be just slowly renovated because of the limited funds. As the youngest member of the family she spent her childhood and youth together with her father and her grandma in a one-room apartment and just had the courtyard as a hideaway for working, playing and communicating.
Inta Ruka takes herself time. She photographs without artificial light and a medium format Rolleiflex camera. She uses this time to listen to her models, concertedly finding appropriate poses and waiting for the moment of silent frankness when they forget about the camera. This way the Latvian artist creates portraits with a centered composure, abundance of details and brilliant depth of sharpness reminding of the later works by Diane Arbus. Average persons and outsiders self-confidentially look in the lens of the camera. This direct view in the eye of the spectator gives those portraits an immediateness and intensity unveiling not only the outer but also the inner world of the portrayed persons. Inta Ruka has the extraordinary ability to extract something characteristically human from the concrete moods and situations. This way her patient and empathetic creating process generates an amazing moment of concentrated life
Inta Ruka is one of the most important contemporary photographers of the Baltic States. Her photos are part of international collections and museums, amongst others of the photographic collection of the Museum Folkwang in Essen (D) and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. In 1999 she represented Latvia at the 48th Venice Biennale. From 1991 to 1994 her works were presented at touring exhibitions in different cities of the United States, in Canada and in Europe. In 2006 and 2007 they were exhibited at the Photography Center Istanbul and at the Barbican Art Gallery in London in the show “In the Face of History: European Photographers in the 20th Century”. One year later her portraits were presented beside works of Diane Arbus, August Sander, Cindy Sherman et alii in the exhibition “On the Human Being” at the Centro Andaluz de Art Contemporáneo in Sevilla. In 2008 and 2009 the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga organized remarkable solo-exhibitions. Moreover in 2009 the Swedish director Maud Nycander created a 58 minutes lasting film portrait about Inta Ruka.
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