Skuja Braden is the combined surnames of an international artist collaboration, born in 1999 between Ingūna Skuja from Latvia and Melissa Braden from California. Their work is a fusion of decorative styles, touching on literary and Art Historical themes, grounded in the politics of now, and interpreted entirely through the experience of their shared existence. Skuja Braden’s Samsara exhibition held in 2020 at the Design and Decorative Art Museum in Rīga, Latvia, brought them critical national success, winning them a Kilogram of Kulture Award for Best Visual Artists of the Year, along with a Purviša Balva Nomination and inclusion in the final Eight selection, for the Purvitis Prize exhibition held in the Latvian National Museum where they won the Delfi “People’s Choice Award for the Purviša Balva”,and finally the nomination for the Venice Biennale. 

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Skuja Braden represented Latvia in the 59th Venice Biennale held in 2022, with their exhibition Selling Water By the River, where they received world wide critical recognition for an installation with over 300 porcelain works arranged as if a storm had blown out from their bed, blasting their works across a a pop-up make-believe home interior.  Their works have been included in over 180 National & International group exhibitions, and together they have held over 50 solo exhibitions, including shows in NYC, Milan, Istanbul, and Zagreb in 2023.  Skuja Braden’s works can be found in private and public collections all over the world.