Sunny Leerasanthanah

PROJECTS:
    Naturalization
    Offerings
    Wuthichai (Exit Interview)
    Mom’s Magnets
    Homes Against Tides
    Towards Tenderness
    Carry Me Home
    Handwriting Superstition Workshop
    We Are Here Book Commission
    Chinatown Futures
  
PHOTO PORTRAITS
PHOTO JOURNAL
VIDEO & FILM
WRITING

ABOUT / CONTACT
PRESS
CV

︎ News ︎

︎︎︎2024 | OPENING FEB 10 | “This is as far as I can take you” at Smack Mellon (NY) Feb 10 - April 14, 2024

︎︎︎2023 | “Naturalization” solo exhibition at John Michael Kohler Arts Center (WI) July 2023-Jan 2024

︎︎︎2023 | Lesbian Narratives of Cherry Grove: Presentation & Panel Discussion, April 23, 2023 at Candice Madey Gallery 6:30pm (Free) 

︎︎︎2023 | Residency at Image Text Workshop  ︎

︎︎︎2023 | Residency at Center for Book Arts 

︎︎︎2022 Nov | Guest panelist for “Let’s Talk About Photo Books” discussion at Soho Photo Gallery. Nov 12, 4:30-6pm (Free) ︎

︎︎︎2022 July | Residency at Fire Island Artist Residency 

︎︎︎2022 May-July | Works available at Queer | Art’s Digital Book & Print Fair ︎

︎︎︎2021 July | Awarded the Queens Council on the Arts’ 2021 New Work Grant for Wuthichai (Exit Interview)




sunnyleeras@gmail.com

Bio:
Sunny Leerasanthanah 
b. Bangkok, Thailand
Lives in Brooklyn, New York, USA

Sunny Leerasanthanah (she/ they) was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, and currently lives and works in New York City. Her visual art practice spans video, photography, multimedia installation, book arts, and performance, ruminating on storytelling, placemaking, identity, family, superstition, and collecting.

Their first solo institutional show, “Naturalization” at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (WI) ran from July 29, 2023 through January 28, 2024. Upcoming, they are exhibiting a new body of work in their first major New York solo show at Smack Mellon.

Sunny is an upcoming artist-in-residence at Artists Alliance Inc.’s LES Studio Program. They were most recently a recipient of the 2023 Center for Book Arts' Book Artist-in-Residence. They have also been a recipient of the 2023 Image Text Workshop Residency, the 2022 Fire Island Artist Residency, the 2021 Queens Council on the Arts' 2021 New Work Grant, 2018 Rehearsal Residency, and 2015 James B. Pendleton Grant at Ithaca College.

They have exhibited at SculptureCenter (NY), Lubov (Projects) (NY), Local Project Art Space (NY), and Handwerker Gallery (NY), amongst other spaces. Their book Mom’s Magnets (2020) is in the collection of Asia Art Archive in America (NY) and Fathom Library (RI). They have spoken in panel discussions including at Candice Madey Gallery (NY), Soho Photo Gallery (NY), Queer | Art (virtual), and Asian American Arts Alliance (virtual).

In their commission photography work, they have published 40+ portraits of American artists and art world figures in the book We Are Here: Visionaries of Color Transforming the Art World by Jasmin Hernandez (2021). They have captured and continue to photograph portraits of curators, art workers, and artists. 

Sunny received a Master of Arts from Teachers College at Columbia University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ithaca College. Beyond their visual art practice and photography, they work at The Curve Foundation.









©2024 SUNNY LEERASANTHANAH