Eva Sutton is a photographer and trans-media artist whose work deals with the effects of war on present-day communities in Southeast Asian countries, particularly Cambodia.

The piece in Bannister Gallery’s collection is an excerpt from her series Dark Dream, acquired from her 2008 solo show by the same name. This exhibition combined photography and installation to tell a story of life in Cambodia between 2004 and 2006. She points her camera at piles of bones, the interior of Tuol Sleng (formerly a prison in which the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed thousands), and makeshift homes in squatter communities. Sutton juxtaposes multiple images, creating diptychs and triptychs that create a continuous narrative through the synthesis of multiple perspectives. The result is a somber depiction of the aftermath of war, underpinned by a glimmer of hope and the tenacity of the human spirit.

Sutton is a professor emeritus of photography at RISD, where she taught from 2006 to 2018. She has exhibited and lectured widely and had her work featured in Aperture, the New York Times, and other publications. Sutton graduated with a BA in architecture from The School of Design, North Carolina State University in 1980, did graduate studies in Computer Science at the George Washington University from 1986-1988, and graduated with an MFA in Computer Art from The School of Visual Arts, New York in 1990. Throughout her career, her work has focused on the relationship between photography, installation, and video. Today she is creative director at the design firm NOA Living, where she is working on combining photography and fabric arts.