Vanja Bučan

Vanja Bučan (1973) is an internationally renowned Slovenian photographer, who lives and works in Berlin. She graduated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague at the department of documentary photography, however, she distanced herself from the straight documentary genre after her studies, and focused on staged photography instead. Before becoming a professional photographer, she studied sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana, and actively took part in environmental activism, which is evident in her artistic oeuvre. She views photography as an open medium, a realm where she can freely express her views and critique of society.

In her signature artistic style, she alters her own photographs and places them in staged compositions in order to achieve deconstructed and multifaceted realities that generate a visually rich expression. The relationship between humans and the environment is at the forefront of her imagery.

Her work has been exhibited at several major international group exhibitions, such as: Month of Photography Los Angeles, Official MOPLA Group Show (2018); Camouflage, City Oases, NORDICO City Museum in Linz (2018); Visions of Nature, Kunst Haus Wien, Museum Hundertwasser in Vienna (2017); Plat(t)form , Winterthur Switzerland (2016) Getty Images Gallery in London (2016). She likewise participated at various biennials and festivals around the world ; Solar Photo Festival, Fortaleza, Brazil (2018); Loba 2018, Photolux Festival, Lucca, Italy (2018); Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (2018); 3rd Beijing Photo Biennial (2018), Photo London (2019), Bieler Phototage (2019), Lishui Photography Festival (2019), Viennacontemporary (2019) among others. She won photo prizes such as Lens Culture Exposure Award, Renaissance Photography Prize , was a finalist of Leica Oscar Barnack Award in 2018 and a nominee for the 2019 Prix Pictet. In 2019 Lishu Photography Festival in China awarded her the Excellent Photographer Award.