birth_place training nationality field birth_date article_title name
riga , latvia university of latvia , university of westminster latvian photography 2 april 1978 arnis balčus
 arnis balčus
arnis balčus

arnis balčus -lrb- born 1978 -rrb- is a latvian photography and video artist .
born in riga , latvia , balcus lived and worked in his home town before moving to london , united kingdom , in 2004 .
he took an ma course on photography at university of westminster from 2004 to 2005 .
he is exhibiting his work since 1994 , but emerged internationally in 2003 with the photographic series `` myself , friends , lovers and others '' .
using snapshot aesthetic the series were showing the everyday life of contemporary latvian youth .
the series had numerous solo shows , for instance , at giedre bartelt gallery , berlin -lrb- 2003 -rrb- , overgaden , copenhagen -lrb- 2003 -rrb- , fotogalerie wien , vienna -lrb- 2004 -rrb- , state museum of art , riga -lrb- 2004 -rrb- and matthew bown gallery , london -lrb- 2005 -rrb- .
since 2008 most of his photographic work has been related to latvian identity , historical taboos and social-political agendas .
in 2009 arnis balcus showed his series `` amnesia '' at riga art space .
in the photographs he was staging various social rituals that have disappeared from the everyday life in latvia due to political and economical changes in the past thirty years .
the series `` victory park '' grappled with questions on otherness -- and more specifically , in the context of latvia 's complex relationship with russia , and russian culture .
in 2014 the series were shown at street level photoworks in glasgow and mūkusala art centre in riga .
the latest series `` beyond the blue river '' are related to the zilupe region in eastern latvia , which on an everyday basis is characterized as economically unstable and politically disloyal to latvia .
in his video works he addresses issues of identity and gender .
his video `` xionel '' -lrb- 2004 -rrb- features a confession by a beautiful asian transsexual , while `` balcus ' latvia 1989-91 '' is a photo story created of artist 's family snapshots from the time latvia regained its independence from ussr .
balcus ' work has also been published in various art and lifestyle magazines , such as black and white magazine , dazed & confused -lrb- magazine -rrb- , flash art magazine , soul mag , achtung mode and many more .
from january 2011 he is the chief editor of the main latvian photography magazine - fk magazine .
