BIO
Alnis Stakle (b. 1975, Latvia) is a Latvian photographer and Professor of Photography at Rigas Stradins University. He holds a PhD in art education from Daugavpils University. Stakle's work critically examines the visual representation of collective and private trauma, loss, and memories, while also exploring the materiality of photography. Employing both documentary and conceptual approaches, his works investigate how sociopolitical ideas can be examined through fact and fiction, as well as the interplay between collective and subjective experiences. Autoethnography and psychogeography are integral to his art-based research methodology. Since 1998, Stakle's works have been widely exhibited, including solo and group shows at prestigious institutions such as the Latvian Museum of Photography, Latvian National Museum of Art, Modern Art Oxford (UK), Art Center 'Winzavod' in Moscow (Russia), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Centre for Fine Arts BOZAR in Brussels (Belgium). His works are represented in notable private and public collections, including Yale University's Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library (USA), Rijksmuseum Library (Netherlands), Latvia Ministry of Culture, Latvian Photography Museum, Mark Rothko Art Center (Latvia), The Robert Elwall Photographs Collection at RIBA British Architectural Library (UK), and Thessaloniki Museum of Photography (Greece). Stakle has received numerous awards and cultural prizes, including the Sony World Photography Award in the architecture section (2011) and creative section (2022), Artist of the Year at DongGang International Photo Festival (2021), and the New East Photo Prize by Calvert 22 Foundation (2018). He was also the winner of the photobook competition at FOTO WIEN (2019), shortlisted for the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards (2017), and nominated for the Discoveries Award at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles (2017). His work has been featured in prestigious publications such as the British Journal of Photography, GUP, Wired, Camera Austria, Membrana, Gente di Fotografia, EYEMAZING, IMAGO, OVER, OjodePez, Archivo, and Leica Fotografie International.
CV
Education
2011 PhD in art education, Daugavpils University, Latvia

Work
since 2011 - 2024 Director of Multimedia Communication and Photography study programs at Riga Stradins University, Latvia
2015 - 2019 curator at Riga Photomonth
since 2006 – Assistant Professor, Faculty of Communication, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia
2006 - 2008 & 2013 – 2015 Expert in visual arts, State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga, Latvia
Since 2004 – 24 workshops and Lectures for professional artists and photographers - Latvia, Russia, England, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Slovakia

Grants, awards, residencies
2024
Honourable mention Prefix Prize, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada
Finalist, Białystok Interphoto 2024 Grand Prix, Poland
Finalist, Galiza Contemporary Photography Award, Spain
2022
Winner Creative section (work series Mellow Apocalypse), Sony World Photography Award
Urbanautica Institute Awards winner (2021)
Winner Archifoto International awards of architectural photography, La Chambre, Strasbourg, France
2021
Finalist Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography, Israel
Artist of the year, DongGang International Photo Festival, South Korea 
2019
Winner - "Melancholic Road", photobook competition at FOTO WIEN, Austria
2018
Winner - New East Photo Prize 2018, Calvert 22 foundation, London, UK
2017
Book Melancholic Road Jury Special Mention the Anamorphosis Prize.
Book Melancholic Road shortlisted for the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards
Shelter series nominated for Discoveries Award 2017 at Les Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, France
2016
Swatch Art Peace Hotel artist residency, Shanghai, China
Book dummy "Melancholic Road" shortlisted for Unseen Photo Fair & Festival dummy award, Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles dummy award, Fotobookfestival Kassel dummy award & Photobook Bristol dummy award
2015
Winner of the 4th Scopio International Photography Contest, Porto, Portugal
Winner of the "Blow Up" International Photography Contest, Australia
The Arte Cultural Actions prize, Boutographies Photo festival, Montpellier, France
2014
Work from series “Shangri-La” selected for CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2013 prize
Series “Shangri-La” selected among 9 finalists for PHE OjodePez Award, Spain
Series “Shangri-La” selected among 20 finalists for Emerging Focus Barcelona
2013
Series "Not Even Something" selected for Critical Mass Top 50
Series “Not Even Something” shortlisted for Terry O’Neill Photography Awards
Series “Not Even Something” selected among 25 finalists for LensCulture Exposure Awards
2011
Winner Architecture section (work series Lost), Sony World Photography Award
Work series “Lost: Paris” selected among 10 finalists for Leica Oscar Barnack Award
2006
Latio Year Award in Latvia Photography, Riga, Latvia
Grant by art centre Modern Art Oxford for participation in residency and exhibition ‘Flash Back’, Oxford, England
2004
Grant by World Press Photo foundation for participation in Joop Swart Masterclass, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Works in collections
OstLicht. Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Yale University Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library,  New Haven, USA
Rijksmuseum Library, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ABLV Contemporary Art Collection, Riga, Latvia
Rothko museum, Daugavpils, Latvia
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia
Latvian Photography Museum, Latvia
The Robert Elwall Photographs Collection, RIBA British Architectural Library, UK
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Airesa, Argentina
Thessalonica Museum of Photography, Greece 
The Zuzāns Collection, Zuzeum Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
Private collections in Russia, UK, Germany, USA

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
Mellow Apocalypse, Photometria International Photography Festival, Ioannina, Greece
Mellow Apocalypse, Ludwik Zamenhof Centre, Bialystok, Poland
Not Even Something, Albumen Gallery / Photo London, UK

Shelter, On the Edge Fest Baltic Way, Tallinn, Estonia
2023
Mellow Apocalypse, Klaipeda Cultural Communication Center, Klaipeda, Lithuania 
Mellow Apocalypse, Exhibition hall Nikolaja Street, Daugavpils, Latvia
2022
Mellow Apocalypse, Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
Mellow Apocalypse, Siauliai Art Gallery, Lithuania
2021
Mellow Apocalypse, DongGang Museum of Photography, South Korea 
2020
Neither Horse nor Tiger, Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
2018
Shelter, Bratislava Month of Photography, Slovakia
Not Even Something, PHOTO IS:RAEL, Tel Aviv, Israel
2017
Shelter, The Rencontres de la Photographie (Discovery Award), Arles, France
2013
Thicket, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia
2012
Simple Story, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art – Office Gallery, Riga, Latvia
Not Even Something, Centre for Fine Arts “Bozar” (curated by: Christophe De Jaeger), Brussels, Belgium
2010
Archive Anatomy (in cooperation with Jekaterina Stakle), Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
LSD, FK gallery, Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art KIM?, Riga, Latvia
2009
Broken Line, gallery ‘Carre’, Photofestival ‘Transphotographiques’, Lille, France (with catalog)
2008
Topography of Biography, Art Center ‘Winzavod’, Moscow, Russia
2007
Nothing Personal, National Art Museum exhibition hall ‘Arsenals’, Riga, Latvia
Living Space – Daugavpils, F Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania (with catalog)
2006
Flash Back, gallery ‘Modern Art Oxford’, Oxford/England (with catalogue)
Living Space – Daugavpils, gallery “AAS”, photofestival “Photosynkyria” Thessalonica, Greece (with catalogue)
Living Space – Daugavpils, Art & Literature centre ‘Apopsi’, 13th International Month of             Photography, Athens, Greece (with catalogue)
2003
Living Space - Daugavpils, gallery `Klariski`, Bratislava/Slovakia
2002
Dark Side of the Moon, Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
2001
Dark Side of the Moon, Art Center Nigendijker, photofestival Noorderlicht, Groningen, The Netherlands (with catalogue)

Selected Collective Exhibitions
2024
Silently Loud, DongGang International Photo Festival - DIPF, DongGang Museum of Photography, South Korea
Dream, Festival Internationale di Fotografia e Arte Monopoli, Italy
2023
Architecture and Resources, French Cultural Center Freiburg, France

(Un)told – what lies at the basis of photography and memory, beginning, Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Poland
2022
Sony World Photography Awards traveling Exhibition, Somerset House, London; Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo; Fotofestival Lenzburg, Switzerland; Fondazione Stelline, Milano; Artexarte, Buenos Aires; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; MOPA, San Diego, Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin
Recent History of the Latvian Photobook, Art_Inkubator, Lodz, Poland
Recent History of the Latvian Photobook, FOTOBOK festival, Goteborg, Sweden
Architecture and Resources, La Chambre – Espace d’exposition et de formation à l’image, Strasbourg, France
Architecture and Resources, Halle Verrière Meisenthal, France
2019
Photo Book exhibition, FOTO WIEN, Vienna, Austria
Photo Book exhibition, Belgrade Photo Month, Serbia
2018
Looking outside, looking inside, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Latvia
New East Photo Prize, Calvert 22 foundation, London, UK
2017
Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, France
Turbulence, 5th Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Odessa Modern Art, Ukraine
Theory of R, FotoFest Košice, Slovakia
Still Searching, Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece 
2016
Unseen Photo Fair & Festival, (book "Melancholic Road"), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles, dummy Book exhibition (book "Melancholic Road"), Arles, France 
Fotobookfestival Kassel (book "Melancholic Road"), Three Shadows Photography Arts Centre, Beijing, China
Photobook Bristol (book "Melancholic Road"), United Kingdom
Gibellina Photoroad (book "Melancholic Road"), Itally
Gazebook Sicily Photobook Festival (book "Melancholic Road"), Itally
PhotoIreland Festival, (book "Melancholic Road"), Dublin, Ireland
Boundaries, gallery 'Artget', Belgrade Cultural Centre, Serbia
Latvian View, Kaunas Photo, Raudondvaris Art Incubator Lithuania
2015
Crossing Borders, Shifting Boundaries (Curated by: Pedro Leão Neto), University of Liverpool in London, United Kingdom
Contemporary Activism, Malmo Fotobiennal, Malmo, Sweden  
Boundaries, 7th International Festival of photography Organ Vida, Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
Bitume PhotoFest, Gallipoli, Italy
Voies Off, Arles, France
Just Another Photo Festival, New Delhi, India
Euroartphoto (curated by: Renata Tartufoli), MLAC - Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Roma, Italia
Viral: Photography in the Age of Social Media, CRASSH Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences un Humanities, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Boutographies Photofestival - Rencontres Photographiques de Montpellier, France
Photobook Melbourne, Australia
Format Photofestival, Derby, UK
Latvian Landscape, Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia
2014
Terry O'Neill Award exhibition, Strand Gallery, London, United Kingdom
31 Contemporary Photographers - LensCulture Exposure Awards, London College of Communication, United Kingdom
Connecting Points, Kanepes Culture Centre, Riga, Latvia (with catalogue)
Abroad (curated by: Liga Lindenbauma), Mukusala Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
A Process, Galerie in Hohmannhaus, Augsburg, Germany (with catalogue)
Sense of Place, Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania (with catalogue)
XVIII Encuentros Abiertos Festival de La Luz 2014, Buenos Aires, Argentina
CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2013, Royal Geographical Society, London, UK
Wild – Animals in Contemporary Photography (curated by: Matthias Harder), The Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation, Berlin, Germany
Utopian City, Survival Kit 6 Contemporary Art Festival (curated by: Solvita Krese), Vāgnera Hall, Riga, Latvia
Euroartphoto, Palazzo della Stelline, Milan, Italy
Sense of Place, Y Gallery, Minsk, Belarus
2013
NordArt (curated by: Wolfgang Gramm), Kunstwerk Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf, Germany (with catalogue)
...for an occurrence to become an adventure... (curated by: Solvita Krese), Riga Art Space, Latvia (with catalogue)
A Sense of Place - Contemporary Latvian Photography, Ausstellungshalle, Frankfurt (Main), Germany (with catalogue)
2012
Only View, J. Raiņa Museum, Berkenele, Latvia
Survival Kit: Contemporary art festival (curated by: Solvita Krese), Latvian Center for Contemporary Arts
Circulations photofestival, Galerie Cote Seine & Trianon, Paris, France
Photograffiti photofestival (curated by: Andrey Bezukladnikov), Perm, Russia (with catalogue)
2011
Labor Ost, (curated by: Walter Keller, Zürich, and Horst Kloever, Berlin), V8 Gallery, Kologne, Germany (with catalogue)
Interstice (curated by: Inese Baranovska), Cesis Art Festival, Latvia 
2010
Labor Ost, (curated by: Walter Keller, Zürich, and Horst Kloever, Berlin), Swiss Photo Award days, Zurich, Switzerland
GuatePhoto photofestival, (curated by: Clara de Tezanos, Adriana Teresa and Juan Jose Estrada), Carlos Merida Museum of Modern Art, Guatemala
2009
Private: Latvian Contemporary Photo Art, Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga
What Lays Beneath: Nature & Urban Landscape in EU Photography, fotofestival ‘Fotoweek’ Washington DC
2008
Private: Latvian Contemporary Photo Art, Photobiennale, Art Center ‘Winzavod’, Moscow, Russia (with catalogue)
European Night, photofestival ‘Rencontres d’Arles’, Arles, France
From M to ZZZ: Latvian Contemporary Art, Langhans gallery, Prague, the Czech Republic
2006
Chronicles of the Everyday: Best Documentary Photography from Post-Soviet Countries, Museum and exhibition complex in Archangelsk, Regional Art Museum in Tjumen, ‘Vyhod Media Center in Petrozavodsk, Museum center in Krasnojarsk (organized by foundation Objective Reality), Moscow, Russia
2005
Visions and Interpretations: Contemporary Latvian Photography, photofestival Open Photography, Central Museum of Communications, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2004
What is important?, organized by Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia (with catalogue)
Topography of body, Latvian Photography museum, Riga, Latvia
Pride, Photography Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands (with catalogue)
Topography, Mimar museum, Zagreb, Croatia
2003
Fotonoviembre, VII Tenerife International Photography Festival, Contemporary Art Museum, Santo Domingo, Spain (with catalogue)
2002
II Art Biennial – Buenos Aires, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina (with catalogue)

Selected Bibliography (magazines & books)
2024
Patrick Lee Hubbard, Episode #6: Capturing History's Echoes in Photography with Alnis Stakle, The Urbanaut Podcast
2023
Alasdair Foster, Alnis Stakle: Uncertain Territory, Talking Pictures
Lou Tsatsas, Shelter : Alnis Stakle révèle un régime totalitaire à l’épreuve du temps, Fisheye
2022
Enrico Palma, Alnis Stakle, Gente di Fototografia (79), Italy
Sara Damaris Muthi, Harsh Salvation: Sara Muthi discusses the work of Alnis Stakle while rethinking Barthes, OVER (3), PhotoIreland
Magali Duzant, Mellow Apocalypse, Lensculture
Peter Dench, Now for something completely different, Amateur Photographer
Luka Savić, Vizualna krajina v dobi interneta, MEMBRANA
2021
Alnis Stakle, “Mellow Apocalypse”, GUP (70), Amsterdam The Netherlands
Ieva Melgalve, "A Sense of a Tangle",  NORK (06), Tromso, Norway
2019
Alnis Stakle, "Wild Flowers by the Rock", Urbanautica Institute Awards, 1st Edition, Urbanautica Institute, Italy
Alnis Stakle, Melnacholic Road, eep Vol. 1, EEP Berlin, Germany
Alnis Stakle, "Wild Flowers by the Rock", FOTOFILMIC JRNL summer 2019 issue 1
2018
Alnis Stakle, "Neither Horse nor Tiger", Latvian Photography, issue 8, Riga, Latvia
Alnis Stakle, "Heavy Waters", Whitelies, issue 6, Germany
2017
Shelter, Veto Magazine (40), Riga, Latvia 
2016
Theory of R, British Journal of Photography (May), UK
2015
Latvian Landscape (book), Contemporary Culture centre KultKom: Riga, Latvia
Incandescent Issue 7, Pine Island Press, Portland, USA
Alnis Stakle, Made in Mind Issue 4, APTALAB - Publisher for innovation and artistic research
Alnis Stakle, SCOPIO magazine - 'Crossing Borders and Shifting Boundaries: Architecture' and its ADDENDUM, Porto, Portugal
Dries Bos, "Alnis Stakle" in Alice Elliott-Pimm & Paul Peterson (eds.), Blow Up (book), Australia
2014
Pete Brook, "Ghostly Photos Reveal Subzero Shortcuts Through Post-Soviet Cities", Wired (Online), January 7th
Alnis Stakle, Popper, Popper Publishing: Riga, Latvia
Der Greif -A Process-, Der Greif: Augsburg, Germany
Alnis Stakle, “Shangri-La”, OjodePez (38), La Fabrica, Madrid, Spain
Shangri-La, Fotografijos Ratas No 1(7), Lithuanian Press Photographers Club, Vilnius Lithuania
2013
Jane Tormey, Cities and Photography (Book), Routledge: New York, NY
Ieva Astahovska, "Alnis Stakle" in Mairita Brice, Una Meistere & Daiga Rudzāte (eds.),Contemporary Art in Latvia, 2007-2012: The Purvītis Award (Book), Arterritory.com: Rīga, Latvia
Alnis Stakle, Archivo Photography 2012, Archivo: Porto, Portugal
Without Walls (Book), Neputns: Riga, Latvia
Sense of Place (Book), Contemporary Culture centre KultKom: Riga, Latvia 
2012
Alnis Stakle, "Lost" in Roman Bezjak (ed.), The Other Side: Photography from Eastern Europe, Kehrer Verlag: Heidelberg, Germany. 
2011
Alnis Stakle, "Lost: Paris", Leica Fotografie International: Leica Oscar Barnack Award, Special Edition, Issue 1, Solms, Germany.
Vikuļina Jekaterina, "Ilgas", FK, issue 1, Riga, Latvia
2010
Harder Matthias, "Alnis Stakle", Photography Now, Issue 1.10. Berlin, Germany
Ķencis Toms, "Contemporary Photo Art in Latvia", Kwartalnik Fotografia, Issue 35, Wrzesnia, Poland
2007
Swain Miria, "Alnis Stakle", in Suzanne Cotter, Andrew Nairne & Victoria Pomery (eds.), Arrivals > Art From the New Europe (Book), Modern Art Oxford & Turner Contemporary
2006
Bate David, "Kinship with Dream", Source, Issue 46, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2005
Stakle Alnis, "Living Space – Daugavpils", Camera Austria, Issue 90, Graz, Austria
Whisnand Tyler, "Alnis Stakle: Place for Dreams", EYEMAZING, Issue 7, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2003
Auziņš Vilnis, "Alnis Stakle: Diving in Reality", IMAGO, Issue 16, foundation ‘FOTOFO’, Bratislava, Slovakia
Auziņš Vilnis, "Between Visual Fetishes", Kvartalnik Fotgrafia, Issue 13, Poland
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