Inta Ruka (b. 1958) began photographing at a young age, driven by a deep curiosity about the people around her. The camera became her way of encountering the world. Between 1983 and 2008, Ruka captured people in her native Latvia, recording their lives in homes, courtyards and streets – places where everyday life unfolds. She returned to the same people over time, working slowly and allowing trust to develop. The resulting photographs preserve places, relationships and lived experiences, from which a sense of belonging emerges. Fotografiska Tallinn presents Places Called Home, a show that brings together two series across more than 80 photographs. They paint a portrait of Latvia during a time of transition.
The artist uses a classic Rolleiflex, a camera favoured by the likes of Vivian Maier, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Diane Arbus. She sets up her tripod and waits for the right lighting, before pressing the shutter. Ruka prefers to capture one sitter in her portraits, focusing on the individuality and character of each person. As Maarja Loorents, exhibition curator and Head of Exhibitions, says: “through portraiture, Inta Ruka seeks to understand and convey each person’s unique indentity and life story together with the time and environment in which they live. This is what makes her photographs so distinctive – they bring together documentary truth, authentic environments and a strong artistic voice.”
The series, My Country People, began in 1983, when Ruka started visiting village in the Balvi area of northern Latvia. Over nearly two decades, she photographed people who had lived through war, occupation and profound social change. The images capture home and living environments where electricity was absent and a way of life that was already disappearing. Here, a story of rural, life, work, memory and belonging unfolds. Elderly men sit in quiet reverie, smoking or simply lost in thought. In other shots, children play in nature, hanging upside down from trees or wearing fashioned flower crowns. Their series represented Latvia at the 1999 Venice Biennale and marked Ruka’s international breakthrough.
Fotografiska also presents Amālijas iela 5a (Amālija Street 5a), a long-term project to document an early 20th century apartment building in central Riga. Amid the city life of the mid-2000s, an unexpected world still remained on Amālija Street: gravel roads, modest interiors and a quiet atmosphere. Over four years, Ruka followed the lives of the building’s residents – nearly one hundred people from different generations whose everyday lives unfolded at the same address. Ruka became part of the residents’ lives, acting as more of a friend than an observer. The series consists mainly of portraits, but also of small events and fleeting moments that together create a portrait of what made this place a home.
At times, Ruka’s photographs feel like a family photo album, taking on a personal and intimate tone that few artists are able to replicate. In the decades since she first started working, Riga has changed hugely, adapting to modernity and political changes. But in Ruka’s archive, a historic age is preserved. Each work is a love letter to bygone era, tradition and community, captured with sensitivity.
Places Called Home is at Fotografiska, Tallinn until 4 October: tallinn.fotografiska.com
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Marta Bite 1986. My Country People © Inta Ruka.
2. Amālijas la 5a. 2006 © Inta Ruka.
3. Juílijs Culcaíns, 1986. My Country People © Inta Ruka.
4. Janínis Macís, 1986. My Country People © Inta Ruka.
5. Oksana Sílova 2005, Amālijas la 5a. © Inta Ruka.
