The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Basis has introduced the 2025 Guggenheim Fellows, together with visible artists Theaster Gates and Farah Al Qasimi. The group chosen 198 people, throughout 53 scholarly and inventive disciplines, from almost 3,5000 functions. This 12 months marks the inspiration’s a hundredth class of fellows. Every fellow will obtain a stipend to pursue unbiased analysis and work below “the freest doable circumstances,” based on the inspiration.
“At a time when mental life is below assault, the Guggenheim Fellowship celebrates a century of help for the lives and work of visionary scientists, students, writers, and artists,” stated Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and president of the Guggenheim Basis. “We consider that these artistic thinkers can tackle the challenges all of us face in the present day and information our society in direction of a greater and extra hopeful future.”
Of the 198 fellows, 32 are inside the High quality Arts class, up from 28 final 12 months. Among the many visible artists is Gates, whose multidisciplinary follow—which spans sculpture, set up, and efficiency—explores the intersections of structure and Black id. Different artists embody Raúl Guerrero, identified for his socially acutely aware figurative work, and B. Ingrid Olson, whose photography-based follow examines the physique and self-perception.
Al Qasimi is amongst 17 fellows awarded for his or her work in pictures. Based mostly in New York, the photographer is well known for her work investigating postcolonial life within the United Arab Emirates. New York–based mostly Martine Gutierrez, identified for her work exploring gender id and her Mayan heritage, was additionally named.
For the fifth consecutive 12 months, actor Robert De Niro sponsored a Guggenheim Fellowship. This 12 months it was awarded it to Iranian American painter Maryam Safajoo, whose work explores the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution by means of narratives from her neighborhood. The fellowship is in honor of De Niro’s father, Robert De Niro Sr., an artist who obtained the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1968.
In 2024, artists Lorraine O’Grady (who handed away final December), Dyani White Hawk, and Lotus L. Kang had been among the many 188 Guggenheim fellows.
