Stanka Tsonkova – Usha (b. 1952)graduated from the School of Photography in 1973, after that she started working at the Boyana Film Studio until 1980. This period had a formative significance for her future development as a photographer. Usha has over 50 years of experience exploring the photographic language as a contemporary visual medium. Her experiments with photographic chemicals, processes, and materials gave her the freedom to push the boundaries of photography’s traditional purpose as a document reflecting reality as it is.This curiosity and drive for exploration have accompanied her entire creative journey, helping her endure the limitations, hardships, humiliations, and poverty of the socialist era—though her life situation didn’t change significantly after that. Being different and creating outside of established canons and understandings has always been difficult, especially for a woman who chose the challenge of surviving in a predominantly male profession. Struggles finding work and low paid jobs have marked her life but also enriched her personal and artistic explorations in photography and the visual arts. Photography for her is a sincere, intimate, and conscious act of analyzing her own experiences and the responsibility of sharing them. Experiment and experimentation become meaningful only when they are no longer the goal themselves but a means—an expression of personal, creative, aesthetic, and conceptual growth, free of unnecessary artistic devices.She has shared these efforts through her teaching and lecturing activities at the National High School of Arts, Sofia; the National High School of Culture, Gorna Banya, Sofia; NATFA (National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts), Sofia; New Bulgarian University, Sofia; Atrium, Berlin; Free University of Kreuzberg, Berlin; Kyoto University of the Arts; Tokyo Polytechnic University; and Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK. Through workshops and short courses, she continues to teach the liberating potential of photography as a medium for self-expression.
She has received awards and participated in contemporary art exhibitions: 1990 Award in The Art of Today – Budapest, Hungary;1986 and 1989 – Grand Prix at the Salon for Experimental Photography – Royan, France. This and her continued participation in that salon formed her criteria and visual aesthetics and played a crucial role in validating her creative choices, which were not acknowledged in her own country. She participated in FotoFest 1990, Houston, USA: The catalogue reads:
“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.”
In 2001, she received the First Prize of the Review of Bulgarian Photography (1990–2001) and was named Photographer of the Decade. A significant moment in her development came in 2003, when she received a 6-month grant from the Japan Foundation for her project Embrace – Stone Garden, Tokyo. The project was inspired and supported by Eikoh Hosoe, who became her mentor. This marked a new direction in her personal and creative journey—more so as a personal transformation than a change in her social status. Throughout her long career, she has worked as a photographer in film, theater, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, magazines and newspapers; as a freelance artist; and in various other roles—including as a kindergarten educator—some not directly related to her artistic goals. In 2024, she collaborated with young artists on glitch art (with Tanya Decheva), the wet collodion process (with Rayna Vlaskovska), and performance (with Boryana Petkova). Their joint projects were featured in the Glitch Art Festival in Brazil, MiniArt in Ruse, and Sofia Art Fair.
Her works are part of the collections of: National Library – Paris; Musée de l’Élysée – Lausanne; Shadai Gallery – Tokyo; Japan Foundation; Zental und Landesbibliothek – Berlin; National Art Gallery – Sofia; Private collection of Eikoh Hosoe as well as many others in the USA, Japan, France, the UK, Germany, and beyond.
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
- 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
- 1979 – First solo exibition at Cinema House, Sofia
- Various solo exhibitions, awards, workshops in Bulgaria from 1979 to 2005
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2025 – PHODAR BIENNIAL- XIII International Photo Festival; National Art Gallery, Sofia
- 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 photograps from the collection of Rafaelo Kazakov ; Synthesis Gallery,Sofia;Curators: Nadezhda Pavlova and Nikola Mihov
- 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
- 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
- 2007 – Prague, Bratislava- Contemporary Photography /BPA and Friends/
- 2006 – Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial-Japan
- 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
- 2008 – Zental- und Landesbibliothek Berlin
- 2003 – Japan Foundation, Tokyo
- 2001 – Shadai Galerry, Tokyo
- 1998 – City Art Gallery, Plovdiv
- 1994 – National Art Gallery, Sofia
- 1990 – Musee de L’Elysee, Lausanne
- 1990 – National Library, Paris
- Private collections in the USA, Japan/ Eikoh Hosoe’s collection/, France, England, Germany, Bulgaria etc.
Publications
- 2022 – Open Art Files
- 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