Biography

A life in photography

Born in Riga in 1958, Ruka began photographing in the late 1970s. She studied at the V.E.E. studio and later worked with the Ogre photo studio led by Egons Spuris. Her practice developed outside commissions: long conversations, natural light, a Rolleiflex on a tripod, and a commitment to naming the people she photographs.

Her principal bodies of work are My Country People, begun in 1983 in the Balvi region; People I Happened to Meet, begun in 2000; Amālijas iela 5a, begun in 2004; and Neighbours, begun in 2006.

My Country People represented Latvia at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, bringing her work to a wider international audience.

Moderna Museet biography (opens another website) Moderna Museet essay (opens another website)

Working method

Ruka’s portraits are made through time and attention. She speaks with each person while waiting for the light and for the formal stillness required by the camera. Short accounts based on what people tell her often accompany the photographs, allowing their words to remain part of the record.