Kunié Sugiura

‘We may assume (as a principle) that photography (photographing) is objective and painting (rendering) is subjective. Usually an artist chooses either approach, but I choose a method that ties the two together, makes them parallel or combines them.’ Kunié Sugiura 

From the beginning of her career in the mid-1960s, Kunié Sugiura has carved out a distinctive artistic practice which embraces unconventional photography techniques and multimedia expression. Sugiura’s manifold engagements with the mediums of photography, painting, and sculpture are brought together in this collection of her defining works, mapping the expansion of her dynamic practice spanning nearly six decades.  

Sugiura has consistently disrupted conventions of photography with new materials to generate multi-layered works. Her interests in corporeality, the natural world, and urban landscapes infuse her varied and experimental projects, which incorporate psychedelic and solarised imagery, photographs printed on canvas, photograms, and x-rays. Echoing her identity as a Japanese person living most of her life in New York City, her heterogenous work forms a generative exploration of hybrid forms which rebukes singular definition. 

With an essay by editor Erin O’Toole