Vika Eksta

Vika Eksta is a well-known photographer who also works extensively with video and performance. The artist addresses existential issues such as ageing, gender and relationships, as well as exploring randomness produced by visual games and media, masterfully maintaining a balance between the painterly and the trivial. Eksta regularly employs herself as a model in her works, for example the character of the mistress of an old farmhouse in the photo series “God. Nature. Work”.

The series “DGod. Nature. Work” recalls Anna Brigadere’s literary work of the same title. Eksta’s documental and staged photographs seek to conjure up an idealised model of 19th century Latvian country life. However, the attempts to romanticise the scene in the spirit of Brigadere inevitably collide with today’s reality. The work is gradually infused with the artist’s own childhood memories and the current state of rural life in Latvia, with derelict buildings, an ageing population and emptiness.

19 photographs from the series “God. Nature. Work.“ 2013–2015.