The “BDO Young Artists Award” celebrated its fifth anniversary this year, continuing BDO Latvia’s mission to support and highlight emerging artistic talent. This year’s winner is young artist Elza Lapiņa, who received the €2,000 cash prize for her work "Landscapes of Time." The “BDO Young Artists Award”, organized in collaboration with BDO Latvia, serves as a platform for emerging artists, offering them the opportunity to showcase and develop their talent.

The 2024 “BDO Young Artists Award” laureate, Elza Lapiņa (b. 1992), graduated in Visual Communication from the AAL. Her artistic practice consists of audio-visual works and installations, often considering the place and environment of the exhibition in the process of creation and planning (site-specific art). Her artistic work often incorporates features and technologies of the restoration profession, offering new forms of interpretation of events beyond the boundaries of fact. “Landscapes of Time" is a collection of multiple artworks that reflect the changing nature of our surroundings over time, challenging perceptions of originality and questioning whether something can be a copy of a non-existent original. Through materiality and its various combinations, her installation rhetorically explores the question: How can we understand the authenticity of objects, structures, or behaviours?

"Winning this award is an unexpected but very pleasant surprise! It means a lot to me because I dedicate everything to art—my time, my materials. It is essential for me to realise my vision and remain true to myself in my creative work. Therefore, this award serves as a confirmation that I should continue to create art that is authentic and personally meaningful. It is also a great honour, as all the finalists’ works are powerful and unique in their expression—I truly believe each of us deserves this award," says Elza Lapiņa. "I will now continue working on my ongoing projects, and very soon—this summer—I will have my solo exhibition!"

For the first time in the award's history, a public choice award was also introduced, with votes cast by exhibition visitors and readers of the portal "Satori". The award went to Anete Grīnberga for her animated short film "Garden of Oblivion." The word "oblivion" in the title symbolizes liberation from the memory of a previous human existence. "Forgetting everything related to us would mean the complete loss of our essence. Everything that once defined us would lose any binding or associative meaning," explains the artist. "The visual elements in the animation can be viewed both positively and negatively—for instance, flames can symbolize hell (negative) or the ability to transform through them (positive); thorny vines (negative) or breaking free from them (positive). However, while each animated figure and object has a symbolic meaning, I do not want to impose my system of symbols on the viewer. Rather, I encourage them to interpret these elements in their own way."

Anete Grīnberga (1996) holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in the AAL “Movement. Image. Sound.” speciality. She has participated in group exhibitions in Latvia and abroad and is a member of the Latvian Animation Association. Anete not only animates, but also writes, and her second novel for young people will be published soon.

This year, four other artists competed for the award, all of whom graduated from one of AAL’s Master’s programs in 2024 - Alise Buleivica (painting series “Whispers in the Night – Portals of the Mind”), Ella Mihailova (sculpture "Daily Bread"), Mika Solomana (art series “Personal Connections Within the Apartment”) and Mārtiņš Dziļums (installation “Elita”).

“The BDO Young Artists Award” jury consisted of Kristaps Zariņš, AAL Rector, Professor, Antra Priede, AAL Vice-Rector, Art Historian, Vita Liberte, Chairwoman of the Board, BDO Latvia, Jānis Zelmenis, Managing Partner, BDO Latvia, Evita Goze, Executive Director, "Kim?" Contemporary Art Centre, and Amanda Ziemele, Winner of the first "BDO Young Artists Award."