This year the Riga Photography Biennial Seeking the Latest in Photography! Award was presented for the sixth time. The goal of the award is to discover and recognise the creative efforts of young artists who demonstrate the power of the image in their works, offering an original point of view and conceptual depth suited to the times. It highlights emerging Baltic artists whose works are already full of these qualities. Since 2019, the award has been presented as part of the Biennial’s programme NEXT, in cooperation with the ISSP Gallery.

An international jury of experts is charged with judging the submissions and selecting one young Baltic artist to receive the main prize, the opportunity to have their work exhibited in ISSP Gallery, while NoRoutine Books also selects its favourite of the young contenders, giving them the opportunity to publish their own photobook.

This year the Lithuanian publishing initiative NoRoutine Books gave the artist Triin Kerge (EE), who participated in the competition with the project ‘Birth Day’, the opportunity to publish her photo book. NoRoutine Books thinks that “Birth Day” would fit the book format very well and here photography brings the personal, intimate and tangible planes as close as possible.

Triin Kerge (EE) is an Estonian artist working between Tallinn and Venice. She holds a BA in Documentary Photography from Newport University, Wales, and an MA in Contemporary Art from the Estonian Academy of Arts. Kerge’s artistic practice combines photography – both archival imagery and family photographs – with embroidery, creating layered works that explore materiality, memory and identity. Her work examines the intersections of collective and personal histories, with a recurring focus on the meaning of home. Recently, her practice has been deeply informed by reflections on her family’s past and its impact on contemporary notions of place and belonging.

NoRoutine Books was established as an independent publisher by the Lithuanian artists Gytis Skudžinskas and Vilma Samulionyte in 2014. Their aim was to create unique art books – in print runs of no more than 99 copies – that would be individually perfected in the studio after printing. NoRoutine Books editions have been exhibited at various important art centres and exhibitions.

Participants: Triin Kerge (EE), NoRoutine Books (LT)
Language: English
Image: Triin Kerge, from the series “Birth Day”