From a staggering pool of nearly 3,500 applicants, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has named its 2024 class of fellows—awarding artists, writers, and scholars across disciplines monetary stipends to pursue independent work “at the highest level” and under “the freest possible conditions.”
Among those recognized in the fine arts category are acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Theaster Gates, veteran West Coast painter Raul Guerrero, performance artist Julie Tolentino, conceptual artist Ulrike Müller, photographer Denis Defibaugh, visual artist Sara Cwynar, and Farah Al Qasimi, a UAE-born photographer known for her striking explorations of identity, diaspora, and everyday aesthetics.
Gates, long celebrated for reshaping cultural infrastructure in Chicago’s South Side through his Rebuild Foundation, exemplifies the fellowship’s mission of art in service to community. Guerrero’s decades-spanning practice investigates the entangled histories of Mexico and Southern California, while Al Qasimi, at just 34, is one of the youngest recipients in her category, recognized for her vivid digital photography and past collaboration with the Guggenheim’s 2023 YCC Artist Initiative.
Other fellows of note include Teresa Baker, Lucas Blalock, Dionne Lee, and Martine Gutierrez. In the fiction category, Miranda July—fresh off a retrospective at Fondazione Prada—was among the high-profile recipients.
The Guggenheim Foundation’s announcement also struck a defiant tone in the face of growing governmental challenges to arts and culture in the U.S. Recent sweeping budget cuts under the Trump administration have threatened federal support for the arts, including slashed funding to the National Endowment for the Humanities and cancellation of numerous existing grants.
“At a time when intellectual life is under attack, the Guggenheim Fellowship celebrates a century of support for the lives and work of visionary scientists, scholars, writers, and artists,” said Edward Hirsch, poet and president of the foundation. “We believe that these creative thinkers can take on the challenges we all face today and guide our society towards a better and more hopeful future.”
As the foundation marks over 100 years of shaping American cultural and intellectual life, the 2024 fellows embody a vibrant and urgent spirit of innovation, resistance, and reinvention.
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