Japanese-born Lieh Sugai is a New York-based visual artist working across photography, printmaking, and video. Her work explores the memories shared between people and places, and how they evolve through time, experience, and cultural change. Drawing on her experience as a Japanese immigrant living in America, she brings an intercultural perspective to these themes.
While studying Graphic Design at Pratt Institute, Lieh discovered photography as a way to navigate life between cultures. Since then, she has developed a practice that bridges conceptual and documentary approaches, using image-making to reflect on personal experience while exploring broader themes of belonging and cultural memory.
She is the recipient of the 2025 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Photography and the 2024 En Foco Photography Fellowship. Her artist book KAIKOU was shortlisted for The Dummy Award 2026. She was also named a winner of the 2025 Premi Fotografia Femenina at InCadaqués Photo Festival and a finalist in the Penumbra Foundation 2024 Workspace Program. Her work has been exhibited at Foley Gallery in New York, as well as internationally at Les Rencontres d'Arles in France and 10 14 Gallery in London. Her photography has also been featured in The Washington Post and Fisheye Magazine.
While studying Graphic Design at Pratt Institute, Lieh discovered photography as a way to navigate life between cultures. Since then, she has developed a practice that bridges conceptual and documentary approaches, using image-making to reflect on personal experience while exploring broader themes of belonging and cultural memory.
She is the recipient of the 2025 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Photography and the 2024 En Foco Photography Fellowship. Her artist book KAIKOU was shortlisted for The Dummy Award 2026. She was also named a winner of the 2025 Premi Fotografia Femenina at InCadaqués Photo Festival and a finalist in the Penumbra Foundation 2024 Workspace Program. Her work has been exhibited at Foley Gallery in New York, as well as internationally at Les Rencontres d'Arles in France and 10 14 Gallery in London. Her photography has also been featured in The Washington Post and Fisheye Magazine.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
2026
Belfast Photo Festival 2021 // Shortlist
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
InCadaqués Photo Festival // Cadaqués, Spain
Wish You Were Here // A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
42nd Center Annual // Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX Spring Photo Show // Brooklyn Grain, Brooklyn, NY
42nd Center Annual // Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX Spring Photo Show // Brooklyn Grain, Brooklyn, NY
OpenWalls Arles // Galerie Huit Arles, Arles, France
Photobook As Object // Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo, JapanPhotobook As Object // Kyoto Paperoles/Kyotographie Photo Festival, Kyoto, Japan
Photobook As Object // Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo, JapanPhotobook As Object // Kyoto Paperoles/Kyotographie Photo Festival, Kyoto, Japan
2022
Palm* Photo Prize Exhibition // 10 14 Gallery, London, England
2018
The Family of No Man, Cosmos // Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
2017
Analog vs. Digital // Foley Gallery, New York, NY
Around the World in 80 Days // Mart Photography Center, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Day/Night // Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery, New York, NY
Around the World in 80 Days // Mart Photography Center, Yekaterinburg, Russia
Day/Night // Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery, New York, NY
2016
The Last March Hare // Rabbithole Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2024
2021
ARTIST RESIDENCY
2026
VSW Project Space Residency, Rochester, NY (Upcoming)
ARTIST TALK
2024
En Foco 2024 Photography Fellowship, Bronx, NY
AFFILIATIONS
2022
EDUCATION
2019
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2016
International Center of Photography, New York, NY
2000
AA—Graphic Design, Pratt Institute, New York, NY
1993
BS—Economics, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan