Diana Tamane (LV/EE, b. 1986) was born in Riga, Latvia, but now lives and works in Tartu, Estonia. Across her projects, she works with family albums, documents and private correspondences to reveal touching autobiographical stories, as well as to paint a broader picture of society and recent history. A graduate of both the Tartu Art College (BA) and the LUCA School of Art in Brussels (MA), Tamane has also been an artist-in-residence at Ghent’s Higher Institute for Fine Arts. Her works are found in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Fotomuseum Winterthur and Tartu Art Museum.
Over several years, Tamane’s Half-Love project follows the gradual evolution of her half-sister, Elina: her father’s daughter from his second marriage. The photographs were taken at their family home in Kursīši, which the artist visits every summer. Here, a greenhouse becomes an improvised photo studio, where she takes a new portrait of her sister each year. As the passage of time marches on, motifs repeat and metaphors surface; a nearby forest – visible from their terrace – gradually regrows after being cut down.
The process of taking photographs is an opportunity for Tamane to spend time with her younger half-sister, as well as to re-enact her own childhood experiences – all against the background of a seemingly idyllic seaside village. Half-Love is both a long-term study of Elina’s life and a love letter to the relationship they share: Elīna’s continued eagerness to participate in the project reflects the close bond between the two half-sisters, despite having grown up in different families.