Skuja Braden portrait in porcelain 2020

Skuja Braden is a pseudonym & the surnames of International duo Ingūna Skuja (Latvia), & Melissa Braden (USA) working collectively & primarily with porcelain. Skuja Braden represents an “absence of presence” of an individual author, where two artists have combined forces creating a fictive and alternate proxy identity.

Collaboration is the non-hierarchical framework Skuja Braden utilize as method, strategy, and philosophy, exploring alternative relations to power through a fusion of disparate identities, inclinations, and perceptions. The work is conceptually based, but always expressed as a synthesis of painting & sculpture. Their works blend decorative, literary, and political elements into hybrid forms utilizing material that is historically associated with absolute refinement.