Stanka Usha Tsonkova
Born 1952 in Sofia, Bulgaria
Lives in Sofia
A.P. Chehov Street
5th floor, at 4
Sofia 1113
mob: +359 888012727
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
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.”