Artists Cameron Rowland, Mel Chin, and Jeffrey Gibson, Are Among the 2019 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Winners

The John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation announced today that artists Mel Chin, Jeffrey
Gibson, Walter Hood, and Cameron Rowland are among the 2019 winners
of its prestigious fellowship, known as the “genius
grant.”

These artists represent the
visual arts category in this year’s crop of 26 fellows, each of
whom will be awarded $625,000 in unrestricted grant money,
distributed over five years. 

“From addressing the
consequences of climate change to furthering our understanding of
human behavior to fusing forms of artistic expression, this year’s
26 extraordinary MacArthur fellows demonstrate the power of
individual creativity to reframe old problems, spur reflection,
create new knowledge, and better the world for everyone,” MacArthur
Foundation president John Palfrey said in a statement. “They give
us reason for
hope, and they inspire
us all to follow our own creative instincts.”

Cameron Rowland, one of the
youngest fellows at age 30, is known for his research-intensive
installations that reveal the systemic inequities that underlie our
institutions and laws. His celebrated 2016 show at Artists Space,
“91020000“, brought together objects built by laborers in
New York State prisons who were paid less than $1.15 per hour and
sold below market value to municipal agencies by a for-profit
company. In a corresponding essay, Rowland wrote about the history
of prison labor programs and their exploitative practices, drawing
a line between America’s correctional system and
slavery. 

A member of the Mississippi Band
of Choctaw Indians, Jeffrey Gibson draws on Native American
heritage to make elaborate, hand-made artworks that speak to the
shifting spectrum of American identity today. The 47-year-old
artist’s output spans wearable garments, sculpture, painting, and
video, and often mixes traditional Native American materials such
as beads, fringe, and elk hide, with queer references and political
messaging. 

Mel Chin, 67, has behind him a
long career of social-practice projects that vary widely in shape,
scope, and subject. In the mid-1990s, Chin surreptitiously snuck
coded objects into the background sets of the TV
show Melrose
Place, glibly hinting at
issues that a major television network would never touch, including
epidemic drug use, colonial violence, and gender fluidity. In
2017, he launched an
elaborate program in
which recycled plastic bottles from Flint, Michigan, were turned
into clothing, a process that simultaneously gave disadvantaged
people in the community jobs. 

Straddling the worlds of
architecture, landscape design, and fine arts, Walter Hood builds
urban environments that serve as both practical community space and
a multifaceted monument to the history of a given area. Hood was
tasked with designing the landscape around the
new International African American
Museum, set to open in
Charleston, South Carolina, next year. His plan for the site, where
more than a third of African slaves were once forced into the
country, features a memorial garden and a tidal pool that reveals
an engraving of figures confined on a ship when its water
recedes.

The MacArthur award is
life-changing for many recipients, and its prestige often amounts
to more than just the cash prize. Previous winners
include David
Hammons (who won in
1991), Cindy Sherman
(1995), Fred Wilson (1999), Nicole
Eisenman (2015), and Njideka
Akunyili Crosby (2017). Last
year, artists
Julie
Ault, Titus
Kaphar, and Wu Tsang
were awarded the
fellowship.

The post Artists Cameron Rowland, Mel Chin, and Jeffrey
Gibson, Are Among the 2019 MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Winners
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