Sonia Mangiapane is a photomedia artist working with processes defined primarily by their interaction with light, as opposed to the exclusive use of the camera. Employing a range of camera-based and cameraless methods her practice takes the form of photographic prints, cameraless or hybrid works on paper, moving image works and other light-based interventions. Themes such as the tourist gaze, Nature and notions of photographic time are the focus of her work.
Sonia's approach is discursive, process-oriented and experimental. The colour darkroom, in particular, is a core site of her practice. It’s a space in which she makes, rather than takes a photograph; pushing the boundaries of the photographic by undertaking conceptual and technical approaches which diverge from the photographic snapshot.
At the heart of her artistic research is an interest in probing (expanding, challenging, unveiling, disrupting, revealing) the construction of the photographic image—both the performative aspect of taking photographs, as well as the process of making (through optics, apparatus and technique).
Sonia was born and raised on unceded Wurundjeri country in Australia, and is the daughter of Italian immigrants. She currently lives and works in the Netherlands.
Sonia's approach is discursive, process-oriented and experimental. The colour darkroom, in particular, is a core site of her practice. It’s a space in which she makes, rather than takes a photograph; pushing the boundaries of the photographic by undertaking conceptual and technical approaches which diverge from the photographic snapshot.
At the heart of her artistic research is an interest in probing (expanding, challenging, unveiling, disrupting, revealing) the construction of the photographic image—both the performative aspect of taking photographs, as well as the process of making (through optics, apparatus and technique).
Sonia was born and raised on unceded Wurundjeri country in Australia, and is the daughter of Italian immigrants. She currently lives and works in the Netherlands.
Selected Exhibitions
2024
Prospects, Art Rotterdam, Van Nelle Fabriek, Rotterdam, NL
Highlight Delft, The Social Hub, Delft, NL
2023
Art Au Centre #13, Liège, BE
Dead Darlings #16: A Public Affair, Young Collectors Circle, Amsterdam, NL
2022
HPR Public Space Exhibition, Platz der Republik, Hamburg, DE
Dead Darlings #15: Issue! 2, Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam, NL
This Art Fair, de Kromhouthal, Amsterdam, NL
Svitlo, Looiersgracht 60, Amsterdam, NL
Come Together, Arkade Gallery, Aberdeen, UK
Rethinking Nature, Foto Wien, Vienna, AT
2021
Struck by Light, Valid World Hall, Barcelona, ES
Performing the Lens, V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, NL
If it fools you, it is not fake, Tetem, Enschede, NL
Dead Darlings #13: Love for Sale, W139, Amsterdam, NL
2020
WALK BY Billboard Exhibition, Rotterdam, NL
Struck by Light, hundredheroines.org
2019
Colour Studies, Brownian Motion Art Space, Kaiserslautern, DE [solo]
Maquette, Hilton Art Lab, Rotterdam, NL
2018
Wanderlust, Galerie Sehnsucht, Rotterdam, NL
New Dutch Photography Talent, 5&33, Amsterdam, NL
2024
Prospects, Art Rotterdam, Van Nelle Fabriek, Rotterdam, NL
Highlight Delft, The Social Hub, Delft, NL
2023
Art Au Centre #13, Liège, BE
Dead Darlings #16: A Public Affair, Young Collectors Circle, Amsterdam, NL
2022
HPR Public Space Exhibition, Platz der Republik, Hamburg, DE
Dead Darlings #15: Issue! 2, Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam, NL
This Art Fair, de Kromhouthal, Amsterdam, NL
Svitlo, Looiersgracht 60, Amsterdam, NL
Come Together, Arkade Gallery, Aberdeen, UK
Rethinking Nature, Foto Wien, Vienna, AT
2021
Struck by Light, Valid World Hall, Barcelona, ES
Performing the Lens, V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam, NL
If it fools you, it is not fake, Tetem, Enschede, NL
Dead Darlings #13: Love for Sale, W139, Amsterdam, NL
2020
WALK BY Billboard Exhibition, Rotterdam, NL
Struck by Light, hundredheroines.org
2019
Colour Studies, Brownian Motion Art Space, Kaiserslautern, DE [solo]
Maquette, Hilton Art Lab, Rotterdam, NL
2018
Wanderlust, Galerie Sehnsucht, Rotterdam, NL
New Dutch Photography Talent, 5&33, Amsterdam, NL
Research, Writing
Towards a New Hybrid in Photomedia, Symposium for Artistic Research in Analog Photography, Helsinki, FI, 2022
Beyond the Decisive Moment: Latent Spaces and Sustained Exposure in Photomedia, Archivo Papers Journal, Vol. 2 Issue 2, 2022
wa/onderings: expanded notions of light, space + time in photomedia
MA Thesis, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, NL, 2020