Rimaldas Viksraitis (Lithuanian, b. 1954)

Born in 1954 in Sunkariai, Lithuania, Rimaldas Viksraitis bought an old Soviet Smena 8 camera for 15 roubles in 1971 and started photographing friends and neighbours in his native village. He studied photography at the Vilnius Technical School No. 47 and, upon graduation, worked as a commercial photographer for a decade in Šakiai (mainly doing wedding portraits). Viksraitis then began capturing the unusual way of life in the villages around where he lives, travelling across the country with his camera tied to his bicycle. Since 1985, he has been a member of the Union of Lithunanian Art Photographers and was awarded the title of PhotoArtist (AFIAP) by the International Federation of Art Photography (FIAP) in 1997. Both in 2000-2001 and 2003-2004, Viksraitis received state grants from the Ministry of Culture of the Lithuanian Republic. In 2009, he won the prestigious Discovery Award at Les Rencontres d'Arles, having been nominated by Martin Parr.