My work examines the complex relationships between home, displacement, and how architecture and landscape influence cultural identity and human experience. As the child of refugees, I am drawn to the tension between belonging and exile, as well as to the histories embedded in ordinary spaces that once held lives in flux. I investigate how political forces change the built environment, leaving behind structures that hide collective trauma, resilience, and survival.
By exploring sites marked by erasure, conflict, or forced migration, I seek the traces of memory that remain despite efforts to erase them. My practice reflects on how cultural traditions and everyday acts of making can quietly serve as forms of defiance and continuity amid upheaval. Whether focusing on neglected buildings, contested landscapes, or the patterns connecting people to place, my work aims to highlight how communities endure and affirm their identities over time. Ultimately, I am interested in the layered ways environments witness struggle and how visual art can honor those hidden histories.
Krista Svalbonas holds a BFA in Photography and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her work has been exhibited at prestigious venues, including Paris Photo, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina, Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, Klompching Gallery, and ISE Cultural Foundation in New York. Her pieces are included in private collections and public institutions such as LACMA in Los Angeles, the Cesis Art Museum in Latvia, the Gregg Museum of Art and Design in North Carolina, and the Woodmere Art Museum and Temple University in Philadelphia.
Svalbonas has received numerous awards, including the Center for Photographic Art Artist Grant (2022), the Baumanis Creative Projects Grant (2020), the Rhonda Wilson Award (2017), the Puffin Foundation Grant (2016), and a Bemis Fellowship (2015). Recently, she held solo exhibitions of her series "Displacement" at the Copenhagen Photography Festival in Denmark, the Tallinn City Museum in Estonia, the Museum of Textile and Industry in Augsburg, Germany, the Kazys Varnelis Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the Janina Monkute Marks Museum in Kedainiai, Lithuania. She is an associate professor of photography at St. Joseph’s University and resides in Philadelphia, where she continues her work.
State University of New York at New Paltz, 2005
M.F.A. Visual Research Laboratory (Photography, Design and Sculpture)
Syracuse University, 2000
B.F.A. Photography and Design
Marshall Gallery, Los Angeles, LA
2025
Photogravure Portfolio award, Penumbra Foundation, NY
2023
St Joseph’s University Faculty Development Grant
2022
Center for Photographic Art Grant
Passepartout Prize finalist (exhibition in Rome)
2023, 2021, 2019, 2018
Critical Mass Top 50 Award
2020
Baumanis Creative Projects Grant
Latvian Foundation Grant
2018
St Joseph’s University Faculty Development Grant
Sunny Art Prize, Sunny Art Center London, England
2017
Rhonda Wilson Award
2016
Puffin Foundation Grant
Columbia College Faculty Development Grant
2015
Columbia College Faculty Development Grant
Working Artist Grant 2015
2011
Silvermine Board of Trustees Award, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
2023
InLiquid Park Towne Place Artist Residency
2021
CFEVA Fellowship
2018
Picture Berlin
2015
Bemis Fellowship
Interface Artist Residency
2014
New Arts Program Residency and Exhibition
2012
Cooper Union Artist Residency
2011
Vermont Studio Center Residency
LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
DePauw University Peeler Art Center, DePauw, IN
Gregg Museum of Art and Design, Raleigh, NC
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Fox Business School, Temple University
Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
Global Center for Latvian Art, Latvia, Europe
Private Collections internationally
2024
Katalog magazine 35.1, Jens Friis, May
Photograph magazine, March issue, Leah Ollman, March
Black and White magazine issue 287, Susan Burnstine, March
Lenscratch blog, Krista Svalbonas What Remains at Marshall Gallery, January 26th
2023
British Journal of Photography, Open Walls Arles, September 20th
Punkt’s blog, The Truth, is sought by the award-winning photographs of Open Walls Arles Vol.4, July 4th
2021
Medium San Diego, Second Sight conversations, Krista Svalbonas with Lisa Hostetler, September 23rd
Lenscratch blog, Text and Image, Krista Svalbonas: Displacement, July 28th
Center for Photographic Art, Krista Svalbonas in conversation, June 29th
Fotofest Houston, creative conversations Krista Svalbonas with Peggy Sue Amison, May 22nd
Humble Arts blog, laser-cut diaspora, in conversation with Krista Svalbonas, May 20th
Shout Out Miami blog, meet Krista Svalbonas I artist, April 14th
Art Spiel blog, Krista Svalbonas recent works Klomching gallery, February 1st
2019
Subtext and Discourse podcast, interview with Krista Svalbonas, December 22nd
2018
Interview with Krista Svalbonas, Float magazine, Dana Stirling November 11th, 2018
Displacement, Fraction Magazine, Bree Lamb, March 4th, 2018
5 Questions, Artslant, April 9th, 2018
2017
Artist Under the Radar: Vasari 21, Ann Landi, July 24th, 2017
ARTE: I fienili in feltro di Krista Svalbonas, Osso Magazine, Italy, March 15th, 2017
Crowell and McLaughlin, Cold Wax Medium, Los Angeles: Squeegee Press, 2017
Under the Radar, Artslant, April 21st, 2017
2016
US artist recreates old town in her work, Klaipeda.Diena, August, 4th, 2016
The Space Between o and i: Printmaking and Digital Technology in Portland, Matthew A. Coleman, Art in Print, Vol. 6 No. 2, July-August 2016
A Touch of Gold, Now What It Is, Daniel Morowitz, June 27, 2016
Architecture’s Sprawling Influences Manifests Itself in an Exhibit, The Creators Project, Andrew Nunes, June 17th, 2016
Three Artists Play with Abstract Perceptions at Matthew Rachman Gallery, WideWalls, Natalija Paunic
Krista Svalbonas e le sue geometrie astratte, NeoMag, Italy
Architectural Form and the Psychology of the Human Environment, Trendland, Ani Tzenkova, February 19, 2016
2015
Six of the Best part 34, Krista Svalbonas, Praeterita, Philip Hartigan
Krista Svalbonas, Collater.al, Aurora Alma Bartiromo, March, 5th, 2015
Krista Svalbonas, Dialogist, Vol III Issue III
Studio Visit Magazine, vol 30, Open Studio Press, Boston, MA
Delve Interview, Krista Svalbonas, Kind Aesthetic, Andres Weglowskyj
Krista Svalbonas at Opus Project Space, Gallery Travels, Anne Russinof
Five Good Things, AnOther Magazine, March 11, 2015
Krista Svalbonas Migrants, Young Space, Kate Mothes
2014
Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas in “Shifting Space,” Gallery Travels, Anne Russinof
2013
The infrastructure of humanity on display at Kutztown’s New Arts Program, Reading Eagle, February 9th, Ron Schira
Cooperman, Marcie, Color: How to use it, Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2013
Artist Interview, Have You Met…Krista Svalbonas?, Painter's Progress
Drawing on the Walls, Star-Ledger, Dan Bischoff, March 31st
Artist Interview, Paint Draw Blend, Bernadette Ward
2012
MPC’s Substance and Shadow reverberates with urban electricity, Monterey County Weekly, November 15th, Jessica Bray
3rd International Painting Annual, Manifest Press, Cincinnati, Ohio
Artist Interview, Lynette Haggard art blog, Lynette Haggard
Krista Svalbonas encaustic, Draugas, Stasys Gostautas, September 15th
Krista Svalbonas at Gravy, Knight Arts Philadelphia, Chip Schwartz
2025
Displacement, The Global Center for Latvian Art, Cesis, Latvia
Echoes and Remnants, Photo 20/20 festival, Philadelphia, PA
2024
Desiderium, Center for Emerging Visual Art, Philadelphia, PA
What Remains, Marshall Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Displacement, Luznavas Manor, Rezekne, Latvia
2023
Remnants, University of the Arts, Photography Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Displacement, Janina Monkute-Marks Museum, Kedainiai, Lithuania
Displacement, National Museum of Lithuania, Vilnius, Lithuania
Remnants, Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN
2022
Displacement, Museum of Textile and Industry, Augsburg, Germany
Displacement, Kiek de Kok Fortifications Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
Displacement, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020
What Remains, site-specific installation, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
What Remains, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (virtual)
Krista Svalbonas Recent Work, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2018
Displacement, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA
2017
Migrator, Space 776, Brooklyn, NY
Dislocation, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY
2016
Topophilia, Bridge Productions, Seattle, WA
2015
Home is a Name, Spartanburg Museum of Art, Spartanburg, SC
Migrants, Opus Project Space, New York, NY
2014
Presence of Memory, Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
A Habitation and a Name, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY
Milieu, New Arts Center, Kutztown, PA
2013
Dwelling, Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder, CO
Project 8, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
Towards a Phenomenology of Space, AFA Gallery, Scranton, PA
2023
Paris Photo, Judith Stenneken and Krista Svalbonas, Marshall Gallery, Paris, France
Paperwork, Krista Svalbonas and Dora Somosi, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017
Between Instances, collaboration with Lisa Pressman, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
2016
Modern Structures, collaboration with Howard Hersh, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
Interstices, 2- Person, RMX Gallery, Chicago, IL
2015
Correspondence, 2-person, Wall Gallery, Oakland, CA
2014
Shifting Space, collaboration with Lisa Pressman, ISE Cultural Center, New York, NY
2013
Mapping Time, collaboration with Lisa Pressman, Firehouse Gallery, Orange, NJ
2012
Substance and Shadow, 2- 2-Person, Monterey Peninsula Art Gallery, Monterey, CA
2025
Human Scale, In Liquid Arts, Park Towne Place, Philadelphia, PA
AIPAD New York, Marshall Gallery, New York, NY
2024
Small is beautiful, Flowers gallery, London, UK
AIPAD New York, Marshall Gallery, New York, NY
Expand and Contract, LACP, Los Angeles, CA
Critical Mass Top 50, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, Co
2023
CPA Grant winners exhibition, Center for Photographic Arts, Carmel, CA
No Place Like Home, Schingoethe Center, Aurora University, Aurora, IL
Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition, Texas Women’s University, Denton, TX
2021
Home and Away, AMcE Arts, Seattle, WA
On Location, Peninsula School of Art, Fish Creek, WI
Fragments, Marshall Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Public Life, Fotofest, Houston, TX
Photos Interrupted, Klompching Gallery, New York, NY
2020
The Altered Image, Miami Design District, Miami, FL
10 x 10, Fotofest, Houston,TX
CFEVA curated exhibition, Chamber of Commerce, Philadelphia, PA
CFEVA curated exhibition, Stoneleigh offices, Philadelphia, PA
2019
Picturing Space, FIT, New York, NY
No Cure for Mourning, Stockton University, Atlantic City, NJ
Up[routed], Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, SC
1000+1, Fotorelevance Gallery, Houston, TX
Momentum, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
Photo-based, Noba ArtSpace, Bala Cynwyd, PA
Postcard Salon, Jarvis Dooney Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Intersections Here and There, In Liquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018
Commorancy, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
American Identities, GAMU Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
New Art from an Old World, Landmark Center, Minneapolis, MN
Contemporary Photography, Site Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Art Never Divides, World Latvian Art Center, Cesis, Latvia
Environmental Conservation, Peace and Development Naiman Photo Festival, Naiman, China
Unbound7, Candela Books and Gallery, Richmond, VA
Sunny Art Prize, Sunny Art Center, London, England
Working Hard to be Useless, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT
It Doesn’t Look the Same Anymore, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Tiny Acts Topple Empires, Woskob Family Gallery, Penn State, State College, PA
Poetics of Place, Gravy Studio and Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017
Poetics of Place, Satellite Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL
Hypermedia Exhibition at Lishui International Photography Festival, Lishui, China
Fresh 2017, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
No Dead Artist, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Geometric Complexions, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL
Between the Medium, Redline, Denver, CO
2016
Best of 2016, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
Flat file show, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY
Select Garvey Simon Art Access, New York, NY
Ecco Domus, The Dorado Project at Art House Productions, Jersey City, NJ
In the Details, Jamie Brooks Fine Art, Costa Mesa, CA
Variable States, UpFor Gallery, Portland, OR
Tectonic, Bridge Productions, Seattle, WA
Tangent Planes, Matthew Rachman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2015
Flat Files Year Three, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, NY, NY
Megalodon, Proto Gallery, Hoboken, NJ
Opus Unum, Opus Project Space, New York, NY
Beyond Material, Slusser Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
de.con.struct, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY
Going Big, Central Booking, New York, NY
Shared Creations, Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL
Interface, Waterstreet Studios, Batavia , IL
Acquired, Occasional Gallery, Burlington, WA
Indiana Green, Frank Juarez Gallery, Sheboygan, WI
The Art of Collage, Frank Juarez Gallery, Sheboygan, WI
2014
Vestige, 3-person, Gravy Studios and Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Gallery Artists, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY
The Last Brucennial, New York, NY
2013
Etiquette for Lucid Dreaming, 2 Gateway Center, Newark, NJ
Session One, Pocket Utopia, New York, NY
Continuum, S.H.E. Gallery, Boonton, NJ
Ethereal Earth, S.H.E. Gallery, Boonton, NJ
2012
Cooper Union AIR, Cooper Union, New York, NY
Natural and Constructed Spaces, The Painting Center, New York, NY
Wax, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Arts Connections 8, George Segal Gallery, Montclair, NJ
2011
Full Spectrum, Virginia S. Block Gallery, Montclair, NJ
Playing with Fire, Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac AZ
Arts Connections 7, George Segal Gallery, Montclair, NJ
2010
Encaustic Artists, GAS Gallery, Maplewood, NJ
Emerging Artist Series, Art Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
2009
2nd Annual Latvian Artist Exhibition, Society of Free Letts, Philadelphia, PA
2008
Latvian Diaspora Art, A Two-Year Traveling Exhibition in Latvia, Europe
