Sayako Sugawara is an artist interested in transforming images through print and process.
Sayako Sugawara is a London-based Japanese artist working with a variety of photographic and other image-making processes. She is interested in how images transform; how they can be deconstructed through various printing techniques and the associations that arise during these practical processes. Her work explores memories, spaces and imagination.
How would you describe your practice, and what have you been working on in the Riso room?
In my practice I use a variety of photographic processes, drawings, and actions in space to explore memory and imagination. Through this, I strive to bring the past and present together, creating new narratives with the objects and spaces I encounter, while questioning the very nature of memory.
Staying and working at the Convention House, where the Riso room is based, I was immediately drawn to the different layers of time revealed on various surfaces throughout the building, from the peeling wallpapers along the staircase to the worn kitchen floor on the ground level. Each day, I took rubbings and photographs of these surfaces, experimenting to see how they would translate as RISO prints and overlayering them. As a Riso beginner, the residency offered a valuable opportunity to try out different techniques and to learn how to gently negotiate with the printer into working when it became temperamental.
Describe Riso Printing in three words
unexpected/magical/grounding
Which part of the creative process in Riso printing inspires you the most?
Overlaying images and the colours.
If you could only use two colours, what would they be and why?
Fluro Orange combined with anything. As a Riso newbie and generally working in B/W, I loved how this colour overtakes my senses when it appears out of the machine and how it transforms when combined with others.
Has your time in the risograph room changed how you work or think?
Yes, it was good to find myself making work that was responding to the surrounding environment. I feel like I haven’t worked in this way in a while.
For the Riso process, there is still so much to get my head around, but I am so grateful to have had the time to get to know the machines and their temperaments. This was a very special opportunity.
What piece of advice would you give to someone who wants to start using Riso?
Learn to whisper to the printer and let the Riso guide you 🙂
Find Sayako:
@sayako_sugawara | sayakosugawara.com
