riel and Bianca Sturchio

Face in Light

Archival pigment print

This is an image from our "Chasing Light" series. Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca Sturchio 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 and health-related challenges.

I use my experiences as a queer, non-binary, chronically ill/disabled artist to provoke, and criticize socially idealized normative fantasies of beauty, ability, and gender identity. I pair my academic background in critical queer phenomenology, bodily disorientation, and affect to explore the sculptural tactility of sound, the mediation of distance through varieties of touch, and the value of bodily awareness. I am interested in how my body is forced into disorientation through disease and use this perspective as a foundation for evoking affect through my work."

– riel Sturchio

About the artist

riel and Bianca Sturchio

riel Sturchio (they/she) uses their experiences as a queer, chronically ill artist to provoke, and criticize socially idealized normative fantasies of beauty, ability, and gender identity. They pair their academic background in critical queer phenomenology, bodily disorientation, and affect to explore the sculptural tactility of sound, the mediation of distance through varieties of touch, and the value of bodily awareness. They are interested in how their body is forced into disorientation through chronic disease and use this disoriented perspective as a foundation for active witnessing rituals.

riel and their twin sister Bianca are co-founders of Begin Collective, a community-based photography collective offering group projects by and for folks at the intersection of LGBTQ+, nonbinary identity, and disability, chronic illness, and neurodivergence.

riel has taught photography at The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX), Texas State (San Marcos, TX), and St. Edward's University (Austin, TX). Currently, they are a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa.