Lauryn Sugai

Through mixed media pieces, I explore the connections between memory, loss, love, and personal identity. Within my drawings, I utilize handwritten text to journal my thoughts directly onto each piece, writing in a stream of consciousness to archive my experiences, and soon to be memories, as they are being created. The ink from the text layered with the graphite from detailed, abstracted drawings meld together to form an amalgamation which is my existence as a person. However, I also include layers of semi-opaque gesso which brings about erasure, referencing my obsessive nature to fixate on what is slipping away in the form of self-inflicted deterioration.

I also construct installations that utilize antique objects and family heirlooms to harken to the past while interacting within my contemporary experience. After grappling with identity suppression and grief, I have experienced a newfound state of love, allowing me to experience a new level of authenticity in life. To recontextualize these objects in a contemporary moment allows me to view my memories and past with a new perspective, lending itself to a level of healing and acceptance of the past. Each of my pieces documents my interaction with memory and loss as I investigate my new understanding of love, identity and my lived experiences.