FOUR NEW ARTISTS are receiving the imprimatur of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Widline Cadet, Genesis Jerez, Texas Isaiah, and Jacolby Satterwhite (above, clockwise from left) have been selected for the museum’s Artist-in-Residence program, a prestigious opportunity that has served as a launching pad for some of today’s most highly regarded artists of African and Afro-Latinx descent. The news was announced yesterday.
The new group is participating in the program from October 2020 to September 2021. This cycle represents two firsts for the museum. Ordinarily, three artists in the early stages of their careers are chosen. This year, the group also includes a fourth artist who is considered mid-career. Satterwhite was selected for a new pilot program providing mid-career mentorship for an experienced artist whose practice shows great promise and merits recognition.
In addition, the program is being conducted entirely remotely for the first time in order to ensure the health and safety of the artists and museum staff in the wake of the COVID-19 virus. One of the main perks of the residency is the studio space provided by the museum. Since the program is digital this cycle, that benefit has gone away. The residency will otherwise continue to provide the artists with invaluable material and institutional support, including professional development, virtual studio visits with the museum’s curators, and research resources.
Meet the 2020-21 Participants:
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Widline Cadet | Born in 1992, Pétion-Ville, Haiti. Lives and works in New York
Practice draws from personal history and examines race, memory, erasure, migration, and Haitian cultural identity from a viewpoint within the United States. Uses photography, video, and installations to construct a visual language that explores notions of visibility and hypervisibility, Black feminine interiority, and selfhood. Holds BA in studio art from The City College of New York and MFA from Syracuse University. Recipient of 2020 JGS Fellowship for Photography from New York Foundation for the Arts. Find more on her website
Texas Isaiah | Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Lives and works in Los Angeles, Oakland, and New York
Self-described visual narrator whose intimate works center the possibilities that can emerge by inviting individuals to participate in the photographic process. Recipient of 2018 Art Matters grant and the 2019 Getty Images: Where We Stand Creative Bursary grant. Photographed Janet Mock for the September 2020 cover of British Vogue. Find more on his website
Genesis Jerez | Born in 1993, Bronx, N.Y. Lives and works in New York.
Utilizing methods such as drawing and collage along with materials such as Xerox paper and oil on linen, practice examines her early childhood growing up in a traditional Dominican household within New York’s public housing projects. Drawing from family photos, she reconstructs the spaces and figures of family scenarios to reveal their underlying cultural and personal meanings. Earned BFA from Fashion Institute of Technology (2016). 2019 Resident at BronxArtSpace. Find more on her website
Jacolby Satterwhite | Born in 1986, Columbia, S.C. Lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Known for a conceptual practice addressing crucial themes of labor, consumption, carnality, and fantasy through immersive installations, virtual reality, and digital media. Draws from an extensive set of references, guided by queer theory, modernism, and video game language to challenge conventions of Western art through a personal and political lens. Received BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Arts, Baltimore and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Art21’s winter 2020 programming featured a new film about Satterwhite. Find more on his website
Studio Museum Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden welcomed Cadet, Isaiah, Jerez, and Satterwhite to what she called the institution’s “distinguished roster” of artists in residence.
“This is a defining program for us—the one that put ‘Studio’ in our institution’s name—and its remarkable impact has long been a source of deep pride for us,” Golden said in a statement.
“We welcome our new cohort at this critical moment for the program, the Museum, and the art world in general, as we expand our definition of studio work, rethink the ways in which we can support artists, and in these challenging times advance our mission as the nexus for artists of African descent.” CT
IMAGES: Clockwise, from left, Widline Cadet (detail). | Photo By Widline Cadet; Genesis Jerez. | Photo by Jason Mandella; Texas Isaiah. | Photo by the artist; Jacolby Satterwhite (detail). | Photo by Thomas McCarty for SSENSE (2020)
While the construction of the Studio Museum in Harlem’s new building continues, “The Longing Vessel,” the artist in residence annual exhibition featuring 2019-20 participants E. Jane, Naudline Pierre, Elliot Reed, will be on view at MoMA PS1, Dec. 10, 2020-March 14, 2021
BOOKSHELF
“Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem” accompanies the museum’s traveling exhibition, a landmark showcase of about 125 works from its collection dating from the 1930s to present.
