Sama Alshaibi, 2023 Artist2Artist Fellow & 2023 Betty Parsons Fellow.
Wasl (Arabic for Union), 2018.
Video Still, Courtesy of the Artist.
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“In a place as reckless as the art world—both in good ways (voltaic, bursting, anarchic, freak flags!) but more often in bad (alienating, inaccessible, predatory, exploitative)—sustaining artists, and in turn, helping artists sustain each other, feels like the coolest way to build life and community in these wilds.” – Johanna Hedva, 2023 Artist2Artist Fellow
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Art Matters Foundation is proud to announce the third year of Artist2Artist, a program where our grant recipients—artists—act as grantmakers. In September, the Foundation awarded 225K in fellowships to 30 artists. The 2023 Artist2Artist Fellows are listed alphabetically by chosen name alongside their self-identified location:
Alejandro Macias | Tucson, AZ
Alex Dolores Salerno | Lenapehoking - Brooklyn, NY
Asa Jackson | Hampton Roads, VA
Asherde Amoy Gill | New York, NY
Ashley August | Los Angeles, CA & Brooklyn, NY
Bl3ssing Oshun Ra | Occupied Lenapehoking - New York, NY
Caretakers of the Land | Cove, OR
Dej Txiaj Ntsim Yaj | Mni Sota Makoce - Saint Paul, MN
Eddika Edule | Los Angeles, CA
Intisar Abioto | Portland, OR & Memphis, TN
Ira Khonen Temple | Brooklyn, NY
Johanna Hedva | Tongva, Tataviam, Kizh, and Chumash Territory - Los Angeles, CA & Berlin, Germany
kale mays| Canarsee Lenape and Black liberator land - Flatbush, NYC
Kevin Quiles Bonilla | New York, NY
Lee Laa Ray Guillory | New Orleans, LA & New York, NY
Magnolia Yang Sao Yia | Chumash and Tongva lands - Inglewood, CA
Mahari Kathleen Chabwera | Baltimore, MD | 2023 Betty Parsons Fellow
Martha Gonzalez | El Sereno, CA
Mary E. Mudiku | Memphis TN
Milton X. Trujillo | Queens, NY
Neta Bomani | Brooklyn, NY
NEVE | Duwamish Territory - Seattle, WA
Nic[o] Brierre Aziz | New Orleans, LA
Or Zubalsky | Lenapehoking - Brooklyn, NY
River Whittle | Anadarko, OK
Sama Alshaibi | Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui - Tucson, AZ | 2023 Betty Parsons Fellow
Sarula Bao | Brooklyn, NY
Sunni Patterson | New Orleans, LA
UGBA | Brooklyn, NY
Utē Petit | New Orleans, LA
2023 also marks the fifth year of the Betty Parsons Foundation’s support for two named fellowships, each supporting a woman or female-identified artist, to honor the legacy of influential artist and gallerist Betty Parsons.
Each year, Art Matters invites 15 artists to both receive a grant and designate a grant to another artist. For the first time in 2023, Art Matters asked past recipients—rather than the Board of Directors or an institutional panel—to select the 15 grantees-as-grantmakers.
By centering the experiences and insights of artists, this process reflects current concerns facing artists, as learners, mentors, stewards, elders, and activists. Art Matters Director Abbey Williams said, ”Now, 3 years into the Artist2Artist program, we are beginning to truly see its power. When artists lead the way as grantmakers, the resulting cohort acts as a kind of bellwether. By simply putting our ears to the ground and listening to their collective wisdom, we learn the direction we need to go.”
Working across geographies and mediums, the 2023 Fellows share a resounding commitment to liberatory practices. Their work is immersed in the entanglements of ancestral and historical knowledge, grounded in a deep ecological sensibility. Among this group, there are artists restoring Indigenous cultural practices; unraveling the colonial logics of digital space; and striving towards new forms of self-determination and self-governance.
These artists are deeply committed to their peers and their communities. In conjunction with their practices, the 2023 Fellows lead and organize residencies, collectives, publications, and workshops, including Endless Editions, the Brooklyn Art Book Fair; STUDIOHOUSE; CAN Foundation; Studio Abioto; the Green Afrofuturist Project; Lenni Lenapexkweyok; MOUTHWATER; and Centro Corona, among others.
We are steadfast in our belief that true artist empowerment arises through solidarity. Through Artist2Artist, we strive to unravel the competitive models of grant-making that remain pervasive in the arts, by instead supporting the relationships that sustain artists and their practices. This year, we look forward to seeing these relationships cross-pollinate within and beyond this group, giving way to new networks of support and resilience.
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