Stanka Usha Tsonkova

Born 1952 in Sofia, Bulgaria

Lives in Sofia

A.P. Chehov Street

5th floor, at 4

Sofia 1113

mob: +359 888012727

www.ushata.com

https://usha1952.wixsite.com/usha

 

Graduated College of Photography Sofia/ Bulgaria, 1973

 

2024- Resent:

LUPA- ongoing project

2024- October; Sofia Art Fair- photographs from the Bloodless Bonds

performance by Boryana Petkova

2024- September; Paris, AWARE- Participant in the S.I.S performance by Boryana Petkova& Iskra Blagoeva

2024- July; Sofia Arsenal-Museum for Contemporary Art/ National Art Gallery- photographs for the performance Bloodless Bonds by Boryana Petkova from her exhibition

USHA- retrospective "Call Me Usha"

12.12.2023- 25.02.2024- Sofia City Gallery

https://gigapanos.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/Call_Me_Usha_2024/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1WDYhteX1erKH9VY_7bS3KTGXT7rTmUyxm_eMX9gAnxE9i1St9Ye6hM_0

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2023 Toplocentrala- “A Wave Washed a Trace Away”, curator Vera Mlechevska

2008 Bulgarian Consulate in New York- exhibition “Dance Clothes”

2006 Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial-outdoor exhibition “Silence Dimensions”

2003 Tokyo Designer’s Block- at IDEE Designer’s Shop

2003 Tokyo-Christmas Exhibition at “Pacific” IDEE Designer’s Shop

2003 Kamakura/Japan/-October, Cafe Gallery “Arukamak”

2002 Boviel Gallery- Plovdiv/International Week of Photography/

2001 Shadai Gallery- Tokyo

1998 Week of Photography- indoor installation “Gipsy Princess”- Plovdiv

1998 Berlin-exhibition for the opening of the “Methenzentrum in Kreuzberg”, work-shop

1994 Month of Photography- Bratislava

1993 Berlin-exhibition and work-shop

1990 La Roshelle- France

1988 Pforzheim- West Germany

1987 The Pataky Gallery- Budapest

Various solo exhibitions, awards, workshops in Bulgaria from 1979 to 2005

 

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2023,PERSONAL REALITY- RadLab Studio- Gabrovo; Sofia Arsenal-Museum for Contemporary Art/ National Art Gallery;

2023- A Few Ways to Win the World , Doza Gallery, curators: Vera Mlechevska, Desislava Dimova

2023- MIRRORS AND WINDOWS:
SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE COLLECTION OF RAFAELO KAZAKOV
Synthesis gallery,

Curators: Nadezhda Pavlova and Nikola Mihov

2022- Time and Matter- Arosita Gallery, Sofia; Curator Vera Mlechevska

2022- Life as Experiment/ Photography as Life- group exhibition at Sofia Arsenal-Museum for Contemporary Art/ National Art Gallery; Curator Katerina Gadjeva

 

2022 National Gallery of Art, Sofia- exhibition "Sparks of Imagination/ On the Frequences of Boeus"; Curator Vera Mlechevska

2022 Echo- Gallery Sariev, Plovdiv,; Curator Veselina Sarieva

2019 Gallery Kapana, Plovdiv- Exhibition "Open Art Files: Notes and footnotes"- Contemporary Bulgarian Art; Curator Vera Mlechevska

2012 Broadway Gallery at Verge Art Fair Miami December 2012

2008 Behind Walls- Noorderlicht Photofestival, The Netherlands

2008 A-A-H project- Sofia

2007 Prague, Bratislava- Contemporary Photography /BPA and Friends/

2006 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial-Japan

2004 Contemporary Bulgarian Photography/BPA and Friends/-City Gallery-Sofia

2004 August in Art- indoor installation “Embrace-Stone Garden”-Varna

2003 Tokyo Designer’s Block-October, exhibition at IDEE Designer’s Shop Gallery

2002 International Week of Photography-Plovdiv

2001 Review of Bulgarian Photography/1990-2001/-National Palace of Culture, Sofia

1997 Process-Space-Art Festival-Balchik, Bulgaria/gypsy fashion, dance performance, video/

1994 Contemporary Bulgarian Photography- National Art Gallery, Sofia

1990 FotoFest-Houston, USA

1990 Biennale of the Research Photography-Paris, France

1989 East European Photography-Musee de L’Elysee, Lausanne, Swiss

1989 Looking East-Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1987 88 Art of Today-Budapest, Hungary

1988 Baroque in the Photography-Cant, France

1979-89 Biennale of Bulgarian Photography, Sofia

 

Selected Awards:

2003 Grant from Japan Foundation for the project “Embrace-Stone Garden”/6 months/

2001 First prize of The Review of Bulgarian Photography/1990-2001/ Photographer of the decade

1990 Award in the Art of Today-Budapest, Hungary

1989 Grand Prix-SIRP, Royan- France

1986 Grand Prix-SIRP, Royan-France/Salon International of the Research Photography/

 

Museum Collections:

Zental- und Landesbibliothek Berlin 2008

Japan Foundation, Tokyo 2003

Shadai Galerry, Tokyo 2001

City Art Gallery, Plovdiv 1998

National Art Gallery, Sofia 1994

Musee de L’Elysee, Lausanne 1990

National Library, Paris 1990

Private collections in the USA, Japan/ Eikoh Hosoe's collection/, France, England, Germany, Bulgaria etc.

 

Publications:

2022-Open Art Files: https://openartfiles.bg/en/people/3491-stanka-tsonkova-usha

2019 Catalogue "Open Art Files: Notes and footnotes" 

2013 EYEMAZING book

2012 NYArts magazine, December

2012 EYEMAZING Magazine, Spring issue

2010 Imago- Slovak photomagazine- portfolio “The self- portraiture of Stanka Usha Tsonkova: Broken Mirrors fixed with duct tape” by Rafaelo Kazakov

1990-“Pour la Photographique” by Ciro Bruni-Paris

 

Collaboration:

2016 Sofia- Host of BUTOH workshop with master Katsura Kan- May 2016, followed by performance and lecture.

2012 New York- Photo and video installation for Keiko Hashimoto’s “Soft Edges” Butoh dance performance in collaboration with the dancer

 

FotoFest-1990,catalogue:

Stanka Tsonkova /Usha/, one of the few women photographers working as an artist, turns inward to contemplate her own life as woman, mother and photographer-and the difficulty of maintaining that equilibrium.”