“I hope this chapter unlocks a shift from proving my right to be here to offering something back. Parting Gift was about fitting into America. This next chapter is about helping build it through images, rituals, and communities that make belonging visible, shared, and durable.”
PHOTOGRAPHY, INSTALLATION, PERFORMANCE
LEONARD SURYAJAYA
Leonard Suryajaya uses his work to test the boundaries of intimacy, community, and family. He uses photography, video, performance, and installation to show how the everyday is layered with histories, meanings, and potential. Leonard received his BFA from California State University, Fullerton in 2013, his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015, and completed studies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2017. Selected exhibition venues include Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago; Arsenale Nord, Venice; Benaki Museum, Greece; Photoforum Pasquart, Switzerland; National Library, Singapore; Wrightwood 659, Chicago; Aperture Gallery, NY; The Block Museum, Chicago; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; Frost Museum, Miami. His work is included in collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Block Museum, Vontobel Art Collection, Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection, Mana Contemporary and Center for Photography at Woodstock. Awards: DCASE Esteemed Artist Award, Aaron Siskind Foundation Award, Artadia Awards, Robert Giard Foundation Fellowship, CENTER Excellence in Multimedia Award, New Artist Society Award, James Weinstein Memorial Fellowship, Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Prize for Emerging Artist, The Santo Foundation Fellowship. Leonard is a 2026-2028 Tulsa Artist Fellowship Awardee.
