In Vertebra, Sugiura assembles spinal X-rays into a rhythmic vertical composition that functions simultaneously as anatomical record and abstract form. Constructed from original medical radiographs, the work transforms the spine into a visual sequence of repeating structures whose sculptural presence recalls both architecture and organic growth.

The work belongs to a broader body of X-ray pieces that emerged from Sugiura's personal experience of illness and recovery. Following a collapsed lung in the early 1990s, repeated visits to the radiology department familiarized her with the strange beauty of medical imaging. Rather than treating X-rays as purely diagnostic tools, she recognized in them a unique photographic language capable of revealing the body's hidden interior.

In Vertebra, the skeletal forms are paired with monochrome color fields, creating a dialogue between fragility and vitality, absence and presence. The spine becomes at once a symbol of vulnerability and a structural axis, the framework that supports life itself. Suspended between scientific observation and painterly abstraction, the work exemplifies Sugiura's ability to transform documentary imagery into a meditation on embodiment, survival, and the material traces of lived experience.