Second year now the Riga Photography Biennial - NEXT has been collaborating with the VV Foundation to evaluate entries for the Seeking the Latest in Photography! award. 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 VV Foundation also selects its favourite of the young contenders, giving them the opportunity to to spend a month in the artist residency PaIR in Pāvilosta.

The goal of the Seeking the Latest in Photography! award is to discover and appraise 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 dominated by these qualities. In 2023, the special prize – cash prize of 1000 EUR and the opportunity to spend a month in the artist residency PaIR in Pāvilosta, Latvia, given by the VV Foundation - was awarded to the Latvian artis Anna Dzērve (LV) for her work I’m glad he died.

“The author has transcended her personal experience in the language of art, through which the viewer can recognize many contexts prevailing in the modern era, such as the issues of women's rights, the Foucaultian panapticon principle of total observation and the imprisonment of society, the presence of the absurd phenomenon of physical and emotional violence in the course of the entire evolution of humanity. The works are visually powerful and multi-layered, revealing the human body's relationship with itself and the society that consumes it and where it fits into. And also, these works stimulate the imagination, they ask questions and look for answers, but - now in the personal life experience of each viewer,” the foundation comment their choice.

VV Foundation was founded in 2018 by art enthusiasts: lawyer and art patroness Vita Liberte, architect Vilnis Štrams and art historian Jānis Borgs. The foundation’s mission is to promote contemporary art and art education in Latvia. The main directions of work for the VV Foundation are the production of high quality international exhibitions, establishment of the first artist residence in Pāvilosta, Latvia, as well as the creation of a contemporary art education programme.

Participants: Anna Dzērve (LV)
Image: Anna Dzērve, from series I'm glad he died, 2021