News & Publications
Film Photo Award
2023
"before the last lilac blooms” is a collaborative decade-plus film photography project between twin siblings Bianca Sturchio (she/her), who lives in Portland, Maine, and riel Sturchio (they/she), who lives in Iowa City, Iowa. riel is queer and someone who lives with chronic illness, and Bianca is queer and disabled. The collaborators utilize photography to provoke and examine the vulnerability they experience from their unique manifestations of queer identity, illness, and disability. Through ambiguously cropped images of the body, visual metaphors, and documented and constructed scenes, they explore and convey celebratory, challenging, and often invisible aspects within the intimate world-building they share, imagine, and create. This award will allow them to collaborate, construct new images, and explore new approaches to image-making.
Interchange | Mid-America Arts Alliance
2021
Bianca and riel Sturchio’s project, I See You See Me (ISYSM), stems from their decade-long photography project Chasing Light. Chasing Light serves as a medium to explore the vulnerability of living in non-heteronormative, ill and disabled bodies and convey the intimacy and world-building they share as twins. Their offshoot ISYSM is a new collaborative series that invites folks who identify as non-heteronormative (LGBTQ+), gender-diverse (non-binary), neurodivergent, neurodiverse, and chronically ill/disabled to partake in personal image-making. the artists provide collaborators with comprehensive learning materials and equipment, including 35mm cameras, film and processing, collaborative and one-on-one workshops, and the opportunity to have their work and story published in an online gallery.
2021
"As first runners-up, Bianca Sturchio & riel Sturchio will receive a $5,000 cash grant to support their collaborative photo-documentary project, Chasing Light, which platforms self-expression and provides visibility to individuals at the intersection of LGBTQ+, non-binary, and chronically ill or disabled identity. riel Sturchio and Bianca Sturchio are particularly eager to move forward with their work and support underrepresented queer artists, writing, “this award supports our vision of opening up Chasing Light to other folks at the intersection of non-normativity, disability, and LGBTQ+ identity. We believe there is great power in vulnerability and sharing stories, and feel grateful for the ability to initiate this new expansion.”
Juried by:
Mariama Attah, photography curator, editor and lecturer with a particular interest in overlooked visual histories, and using photography and visual culture to amplify under and misrepresented voices.
Emily Oliveira, interdisciplinary artist and performer. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, and a current MFA candidate at Yale.
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, a Los Angeles-based artist working in photography and an Acting Associate Professor at UC San Diego. Los Angeles-based artist working in photography and an Acting Associate Professor at UC San Diego.
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.
7th Annual FAPA (Fine Art Photo Awards)
Photojournalism Nominee (2021)
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY
riel sturchio
CHASING LIGHT (SERIES)
DESCRIPTION
Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Bianca and riel utilize photography as a means to delve into the world-building within their respective non-normative identities and health-related challenges.
Center for Photographic Art
Spring 2021, Artist Exhibition Grant
"April 15, 2021—We are pleased to announce the recipients of the first ever CPA Artist Grants!..."
March 3 2021 | Online Feature
"From tender pictures exploring disability to a Congo odyssey, these previously unpublished photographers were all acclaimed at the ICP/GOST First Photo Book award..."
Winter 2020 | 2nd place ND Awards 2020 in Editorial - Daily Life
"ND Awards aims to promote photography and photographers. Our idea is to create new opportunities to present valuable work to audiences all over the world. We aim to build a place where photographers can show different points of view and thrive through competition..."
Top 5 Shortlist for Chasing Light | 2020
Juried by:
Jacqueline Bates – Photography Director of The California Sunday Magazine
Mark Lubell – Executive Director, International Center of Photography
John Edwin Mason – Writer, academic and photographer
Stuart Smith – Director, GOST Books
Lindokuhle Sobekwa – Photographer
Cemre Yeşil Gönenli – Photographer, publisher and FiLBooks Director
Professional Series: Daily Life | November 2020
Bianca and riel both identify as non-normative in body and identity. riel is non-binary, queer, and someone who lives with invisible chronic illness, and Bianca lives in the intersection of physically disability and queerness. Chasing Light serves as a conduit to consider riel's position as lead photographer or observer, and how riel's gaze both filters and complicates the narrative...
October 2020
Chasing Light | Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Chasing Light embodies the belief that representation, visibility, autonomy, and truth-telling can promote personal empowerment, and open up access to spaces that foster meaningful dialogue and community. Bianca and riel utilize photography as a means to delve into the complications of their respective non-normative identities...
Book curated and designed by Bill Marr, former Creative Director of National Geographic.
The work is presented thematically through a deep view of the major themes that our visionary photographers have touched. It includes photographs by Ami Vitale, Marcus Bleasdale, Stephanie Sinclair, Louie Palu, Farzana Hossen, Katie Orlinsky, Abir Adbullah, Matt Eich and many more. Essays by Aphrodite Tsairis, The Alexia Foundation co-founder, and Peggy Peattie, the first professional grant recipient further expand the book’s scope. This is an opportunity to see the world anew.
Copies of The Alexia: 30 Years can be purchased via the Syracuse University Bookstore. All proceeds will directly support future grant recipients.
NOPA Sarah Leen Editor/Founder | 2020
This work by Riel and her sister Bianca is a tender revelation. It is a collaborative project that uses the visual language of portraiture, still life, moments and landscape to explore queerness, disability and sisterhood. It illuminates life at the margins and is fearless in how it represents identity and love. It is a story of survival, topped with triumph and no small measure of beauty.
Series: Chasing Light | 2019
Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Chasing Light embodies the belief that representation, visibility, autonomy, and truth-telling can promote personal empowerment, and open up access to spaces that foster meaningful dialogue and community. Bianca and riel utilize photography as a means to delve into the complications of their respective queer identities and health-related challenges...
Shortlist for Chasing Light | 2019
The shortlisted photographers for the 2019 Gomma Photography Grant were:
Agata Kalinowska, Aleksei Kazantsev, Bastien Deschamps, Bowei Yang, Camillo Pasquarelli, Ciro Battiloro, Clár Tillekens, Demetris Koilalous, Emil Gataullin, Emily Graham, Federico Vespignani, Francesco Bellina, Giuseppe Andretta, Iacopo Pasqui, Ingmar Nolting, Jair lanes, Janne Körkkö, Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccinni, Jef Van den Bossche, Jonas Folkeson, Juan Orrantia, Karoline Schneider, Laura Pannack, Lily Zoumpouli, Lucia Sekerková, Mark Forbes, Miguel Brusch, Mischa Christen, Nicola Zolin, Oskar Alvarado, Osnowycz Aude, Rafael Heygster, Rebecca Moseman, Riel Sturchio, Sabiha Çimen, Sergey Parshukov, Sergio Dominguez, Simon Johansson, Stefano Morelli, Tamara Eckhardt, Toby Binder and Visvaldas Morkevicius.
Vol. 11, No. 2 | Dec 1 2019
The Fall 2019 issue featuring Matthew Portch, Enze Wang, Dylan Johnston, Jake Mein, Rory Doyle, Kai Wai Wong, Andrea Alai, Jo Ann Chaus, Elzbieta Kurowska and Riel Sturchio. Brought to you by PHOTO+, parent group of Photo District News and Rangefinder.
Women seen by Women | Honorable Mention | December 2019
TGA hosts the above mentioned Awards to honor talented photographers and as a means of establishing and maintaining a continuing effort to help them further their careers, promoting appraisal towards contemporary photography. TGA recognize artists’ talent through competitions juried by industry leaders, exposing their work in the media, publishing their work, hosting collective exhibitions, and by exhibiting their work on line and in the Biennial of Fine Art and Documentary Photography.
PMH | October 2019
Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Chasing Light embodies the belief that representation, visibility, autonomy, and truth-telling can promote personal empowerment, and open up access to spaces that foster meaningful dialogue and community. Bianca and riel utilize...
PDN 2019 Emerging Photographer Award
PDN | September 2019
Chasing Light
riel Sturchio (and Bianca Sturchio)
Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Chasing Light embodies the belief that representation, visibility, autonomy, and truth-telling....
ND | Honorable Mention | 2019
The past couple of years have been an evident testament of the success of ND AWARDS on its journey towards becoming one of the most sought-after professional competitions among photographers. Our trademark is modern approach to photography coupled with respect towards tradition. In the spirit of reciprocity, at ND AWARDS, our participants are the center of the competition as this award-giving body cannot exist without its participants.
Alexia Foundation | Curated by Bill Marr | August 2019
The Alexia Foundation is pleased to announce that we will be hosting the exhibition, From Tragedy to Light, 30 Years of The Alexia, Sept, 12-22 at Photoville, New York’s premiere festival of photography held annually in the iconic Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The exhibition will be a homage and immersion into the power of documentary photography. It is a celebration and commemoration of the powerful history of The Alexia, a grant created to honor Alexia Tsairis, and whose goal is to foster understanding and expose social injustice. Recipients are marked by their unwavering belief in the power of photography to drive change and their relentless work to harness photography to make the world a better place.
Format | July 2019
Bianca is an emerging mixed-media artist and graduate holding a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and Sociology, with minor concentrations in Women and Gender Studies and Social Justice from the University of Southern Maine (2019). riel is a multimedia artist who received an MFA from the University of Texas, Austin (2018), and a BFA in Photography from the Maine College of Art (2012). riel’s fine art practice extends through poetry, photography, design, sound, videography, and book-making.
5 Years of The Kindling Fund
Published on Jul 1, 2019
A publication commemorating five years of Kindling Fund projects and a look at our application process.
FANTAGIRL | Images by Jocelyn Lee | April 19, 2019
Hello Bianca, nice to meet you. Can you tell me about yourself--your life, age, your hobbies? How do you spend your days?
I am a 28-year-old disabled artist and student living in Portland, Maine in the US. I local currently work at a peer center where I support people living with mental health challenges and other adversities, like, homelessness and substance use. I'm also finishing up my undergraduate studies; in May I'll earn my degree in social work. I also work with my twin sister Riel in a film photography series titled Chasing Light...
PINE ISLAND PRESS | April 15, 2019
“To Approach Stillness”
66 pages, color
6.5 x 8 in
First Pressing of 200
Foreword by Bianca Butler
Edited by Anna Knecht Schwarzer and Helen Jones
Cover image by riel Sturchio & Bianca Sturchio
FORMAT.COM | February 28, 2019
Gabriella Sturchio, aka Riel, is based in Maine and Austin. Her artistic practice includes sound, fine art photography, print work, and more. A sidebar menu on her online portfolio introduces the various aspects of her creative work for easy browsing...
DODHO MAGAZINE | January 2019
Chasing Light is an ongoing collaborative photography series and community engagement project. My twin sister, Bianca, and I use photography as a means to explore our dynamic as siblings and our experiences of owning queer identities and disabled bodies...
Grant Recipient | November 2018
A statewide regranting program for artist-organized projects, administered by SPACE Gallery on behalf of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Network.
IM MAG | March 2018
Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Bianca and riel utilize photography as a means to delve into the world-building within their respective non-normative identities and health-related challenges.
THE ALEXIA FOUNDATION | 2017
Chasing Light: The Alexia Foundation
Reception: Visual Arts Center, Austin, TX
Nov. 3rd, 2017, 6-8pm
Body is a Bridge details the lived experiences of illness through an intersectional lens. Images of Amber Shields’s grandmother, Johanne, span 15 years, marking examples of her strength and defiance from the expected norms of the traditional female. Images unravel the “American dream” through depicting visits to relatives’ gravesites, stints in nursing homes for broken bones, breast cancer, and physical and mental battles with mortality.
THE ALEXIA FOUNDATION | October 13, 2017
This past April, Riel Sturchio was awarded a Student Award of Excellence Grant for Chasing Light, a collaborative photographic project with her twin sister…
June 2016
Text: Ailidh MacLean
The photographers capturing unseen environments
From snapping public transport scenes to tracing the steps of an Indian mythical prince, we showcase ten of the most eye-catching photographers from the past month...
SUPERSTITION REVIEW | Spring 2016
Sturchio resides in Portland, Maine. She studied photography & art history at Maine College of Art where she received her BFA in 2012. Sturchio grew up in various parts of Maine, experiencing both the business of the city and the rural outdoors...
POSI+IVE | 2016
Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Bianca and riel utilize photography as a means to delve into the world-building within their respective non-normative identities and health-related challenges.
2016
Chasing Light looks at the relationship between my twin sister and I, identity, disability, and stigma...
LensCulture | 2015
riel Sturchio is a multimedia artist who resides in Portland, Maine, and Austin, TX. riel received an MFA from the University of Austin, Texas (2018), and a BFA in Photography from the Maine College of Art (2012). riel’s practice...
2015
What have been the main influences on your photography?
Falling in love, experiencing trauma, being sick, heartbreak, hiking, reading, poetry, queerness...