Sayako Sugawara

Sayako Sugawara’s work explores notions of memory and imagination through a poetic approach to stillness and movement. Using photographic processes, drawings and actions in space, Sugawara strives to bring the past and the present together, creating new narratives with the objects and spaces she encounters, questioning the very nature of memory. The practical process of making is very important in her practice, leading and informing the majority of the cognitive process. Sugawara encountered the tree which is the subject of Redwood Magdalene working on a project based on the Thames’ tributaries; it stands at the source of the River Fleet. The striking texture and rich colour of the tree’s bark evoke Donatello’s Penitent Magdalene, which Sugawara saw in Florence as a child. For this piece she hand-coated photographic emulsion on to Offenbach Bible Paper and printed in the darkroom to achieve the delicate surface. Sugawara completed both her BFA and MFA in Japanese Painting at Tama Art University, Tokyo, followed by MA Photography at LCC in 2013. She has been shortlisted for Hariban Award (2017) and Ashurst Emerging Art Prize (2021). She has exhibited internationally (BE, CH, CN, DE, ES, NL, JP) in both solo and group shows. In 2020 she received a commission from the Financial Times Weekend Magazine. Most recently she had a Solo exhibition at Ibasho Gallery, Antwerp and had works included in the London Alternative Photography Collective exhibition Beyond Silver and Photo Basel.