Itziar Barrio, ROBOTA MML. NEW INC, New Museum and Onassis ONX, March 2024. Curated by Jane Ursulla Harris.
Itziar Barrio, ROBOTA MML. NEW INC, New Museum and Onassis ONX, March 2024. Curated by Jane Ursulla Harris.
Earlier this month, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced its 2024 fellows—an eclectic and diverse group of 188 artists, filmmakers, photographers, writers, scholars and scientists chosen from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants. Among the 2024 Guggenheim Fellows were five SVA community members: Faculty members Itziar Barrio, Ben Hagari, and alumnus Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana (MFA 2012 Social Documentary Film) each received a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship in the Film and Video field; alumnus James Scruggs (BFA 1979 Film and Video) was awarded a Fellowship in the Drama & Performance category; alumnus Jennifer Sirey (1990 Fine Arts) was bestowed a Fellowship honor in the Fine Arts section, and alumnus Lisa Elmaleh (BFA 2007 Photography) was granted the Fellowship award in the Photography class.
Still from Border South, by Raúl Paz Pastrana, 2019.
Still from Border South, by Raúl Paz Pastrana, 2019.
Filmmaker and faculty member Itziar Barrio, who teaches Art History and courses in Continuing Education’s Visual and Critical Studies department, is an interdisciplinary artist using video installation, sculpture and robotics to analyze the intersection of technology, labor, identity, and matter.
MFA Photography, Video and Related Media faculty member Ben Hargari is a filmmaker, visual artist, lecturer, and educator with an MFA from Columbia University. His solo exhibitions include shows at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University Waltham, the Rosenfeld Gallery and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, among others. For over a decade, Hagari has worked collaboratively to create experimental films, video installations, video sculptures, kinetic environments, animations, photographs, and prints.
A writer, performer, producer, teacher, speaker and arts administrator, James Scruggs (BFA 1979 Film and Video) creates large-scale, topical, theatrical, multi-media work generally focused on inequity or gender politics.
Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana (MFA 2012 Social Documentary Film) is a Mexican immigrant filmmaker, cinematographer, and multimedia creator based in Denver, Colorado. His work intersects experimental non-fiction, participatory filmmaking, and visual ethnography to explore themes of belonging, alienation, and the concept of “home.”
Jennifer Sirey, Goddess 14, 2023. Glass, bacteria, wax, water, vinegar, monofilament, testubes, walnut, light, wooden box, 55 x 14 x 13.5 inches. Photo courtesy of artist.
Jennifer Sirey, Goddess 14, 2023. Glass, bacteria, wax, water, vinegar, monofilament, testubes, walnut, light, wooden box, 55 x 14 x 13.5 inches. Photo courtesy of artist.
Jennifer Sirey (1990 Fine Arts) is a Brooklyn-based artist known for her unusual sculptures. Creating human-size “living architectures,” her process-driven sculptures engage organic materials and natural phenomena, incorporating glass, liquids, wax, bacteria, algae, wood and found objects in monolithic forms.
A visual artist, educator, and documentarian based in Hampshire County, West Virginia, Lisa Elmaleh (BFA 2007 Photography) specializes in large-format work in tintype, glass negative, and celluloid film. Since 2007, she has been traveling across the U.S., documenting American landscapes, life, and culture.
Lastly, Lorraine O'Grady, a conceptual multi-disciplinary artist who is reviving an old persona for a new performative work project and taught at SVA in the 1970s, was also granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts.
Lisa Elmaleh, Promised Land, 2020.
Lisa Elmaleh, Promised Land, 2020.
Lisa Elmaleh, Promised Land, 2020.
Lisa Elmaleh, Promised Land, 2020.
For more information on the 2024 Fellows and the full list of awardees, visit gf.org. Congratulations to all the SVA recipients!