PRIEKŠMETA APRAKSTS

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Virsraksts vai nosaukums Mani lauku ļaudis: Aleksandra Filipova (Balvi)

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Satura apraksts Inta Ruka’s series “My Country People” was created over a period of time from 1981 to 1999 and its main heroes are the people that live in her mother’s native Balvi region in Eastern Latvia. An important aspect of the creative process is the long time it takes to set up the equipment and to take the picture, which the artist fills in with conversation. Unhurried conversation allows Ruka to discover the life story of her subject and so come closer to their world of thoughts and feelings. This is rewarded by a photograph that is revealing in its intimacy.
Ruka’s photos are always accompanied by her comments on the person or situation being photographed. These short texts usually come about at the time the photographs are taken. They have either been recorded by the author or she has written them from memory. The narrative together with the photograph form a unified whole.
Ruka works consistently only in black and white and the only object of her interest is the person. The use of old equipment, a 1936 6 x 6 Rolleiflex, creates preconditions for the execution of the work. The exposure time is relatively long (from 0.1 to 2 seconds) and only permits the recording of people and situations that are still. The height at which the photograph is taken is dictated by the location of the viewfinder at the top of the camera and the minimum focussing distance limits how far the subject can be. Ruka’s work is also characterised by her use of natural lighting for all her photographs.
“I don’t know how to take pictures of anything else but people. In the early years I also tried to photograph landscapes but of all the pictures I’d taken in summer I considered only one to have any value – a landscape with a horse. Initially I also tried taking photos in Riga but I was given so much verbal abuse that I went to my mum’s native Silmala. Going from house to house in the Balvi district I saw so many beautiful people. Each one of them had their own fate. They are so responsive and sincere; they’ll feed you, talk to you and help you while putting aside their chores and agree to be photographed in the future too. What can be more beautiful than country people in their natural surroundings. I have the fondest memories of those people I have photographed and I always want to return to them. I’ve also written short notes about them. I could write more but I don’t have a writer’s talent. The fact alone that each one of them has their fate and problems that they’ve overcome I find remarkable. I create portraits just as I see and feel those people.”
(D.Kļanska: “Mani lauku ļaudis” Rīgā (“My Country people” in Riga). Vaduguns, 15.01.2000)

Image: Baukunst Galerie, Cologne 2006.
Text: http://www.camp.lv/eng/kolekcija/darbi/20_80/inta_ruka/?doc=338, download 26th of September 2006.

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