For more than two decades, Latvian photographer Inta Ruka has photographed the people of Latvia to provide an undisguised view on the current state of flux in Latvia since its integration into the European Union.  From 1984 to 2000, she photographed primarily in the rural area of Balvi and, later on, increasingly in the capital of Riga. In the series “People I happened to meet”, she strikes up conversations with unknown people in order to ask them for a portrait. In “Amalias Street 5”, she focused on the inhabitants of an apartment complex in Riga. Her photographs have been shown at the 48th Biennale of Venice, the Photography Centre in Istanbul and the Barbican Arts Centre in London.

With support from the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies; the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies; the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and the River Gallery.

All programs take place on Thursdays at 5:10 pm at the historic Michigan Theater, located at 603 E. Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor, and are free of charge and open to the public. For more information, visit: http://stamps.umich.edu/stamps