Leonard Suryajaya was the 2015 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Awardee of the Edes Foundation Prize.

Leonard, who is originally from North Sumatra, Indonesia, received dual bachelor’s degrees in Theatre Art and Creative Photography from California State University Fullerton in 2013.

He received his Master of Fine Arts in Photography at SAIC in May 2015. He has exhibited his work extensively, including at Expo Chicago, Mana Contemporary, Defibrillator Gallery, and the Irvine Fine Arts Center in Irvine, CA.

Influenced by the cultural milieu of inter-ethnic relations in Indonesia, Suryajaya’s work explores intricate and complicated layers of selfhood in the context of cultural background, intimacy, sexuality, and personal displacement. By utilizing photography, video, along with elements of performance and installation, and through the use of personal narrative and story telling, his work challenges and deconstructs the perspective we use to scrutinize and observe our roles in a transnational global world.