Yukiko Sugiyama

Yukiko Sugiyama was born in 1985 in Kyoto, Japan. She was honored with an MFA from Sculpture Course in Fine Art (Kishio Suga Seminar) in Kanazawa College of Art in 2011. She is based in Los Angeles and Kyoto, where she works on her photographic and installation art pieces.

Sugiyama uses an infrared camera to separate and depict abandoned machines as "artificial objects" and "natural objects" such as plants and trees. The infrared camera captures the chlorophyll (plant) in white (snow effect). This method of photography highlights the difference between artifact and plant. The intention is to contrast the "past artifacts" that are destined to perish with the "life of plants" that now live.

By using this shooting technique, her intention is to reveal the stark contrast between past technologies falling into decay and yet melding into the natural environment and often becoming the starting point of creating natural (plant) life.

Further, also she uses drones to reach difficult areas to access, such as the ocean.

The distinctive focus of Sugiyama’s art works is the technical process to visualize objects, neglected by humans, and blended into the cycle of nature — decay and rebirth.

1985年京都市生まれ。2011年に金沢美術工芸大学の彫刻専攻 (菅木志雄ゼミ) 修士課程を修了。現在は京都とロサンゼルスを拠点として写真+インスタレーション作品を発表しています。

　私の作品はテクノロジーの集合体である「人工物」と草木をはじめとした「自然」を分けて可視化できるよう、近赤外線カメラを使用し撮影しています。この撮影技法はクロロフィル(植物)を白く写し出す効果があり、人工物と植物のマテリアルの違いを浮き彫りにするだけでなく、朽ちる運命にある「過去の産物」と、今を生きる「植物達の生命」を対比させる意図があります。またアクセスが困難な海などのロケーションはドローンを使用しています。人間によって遺棄され、自然のサイクルに埋もれた人工物を可視化していく作業が私のアートワークの特徴です。

SELECTED WORKS