Announcing the 2022 Artist2Artist Fellows

Art Matters Foundation is proud to announce the second year of Artist2Artist, a program where our grant recipients — artists — act as grantmakers. This year, the Board elected 15 grantees (including 6 Art Matters alumni and 9 artists new to Art Matters support) to both receive and give a fellowship, resulting in 30 Artist2Artist Fellows. The artist-grantmakers and Art Matters' Board were asked to consider the following guidelines as they made their selections:
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• Artist2Artist recognizes that artists do not necessarily identify as professional artists, and rely on and collaborate with other broadly defined cultural workers. 
• Artist2Artist seeks prospective grantmakers/grantees who align with our vision of giving through mutual aid, micro-granting, peer/community care, or other solidarity economy strategies.
• Artist2Artist seeks to support experimental practices and under-recognized artists.
• Artist2Artist seeks to foster stronger relationships between artists/culture workers.
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These principles reflect feedback from the 2021 pilot year Artist2Artist Fellows, who identified barriers around the salient issues of precarity and care. Art Matters Director Abbey Williams said, “Artist2Artist works to undo the divisive competitive structures, perpetuated by art institutions, both philanthropic and nonprofit. Through this new process, we seek to remove the gatekeeping to support and embolden those already building new networks toward true artists' sovereignty.”
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In December, the foundation awarded 225K in Artist2Artist Fellowships to individual artists and culture workers who are also healers, activists, elders, and caregivers, addressing the long-term sustenance of their communities. Sharing her experience, 2022 Artist2Artist Fellow Viva Ruiz spoke about the game-changing aspect of recognizing the creative, communal, and spiritual in oneself and others, “For us to see each other is how I think art gets made, you know?"

2022 also marks the fourth year of the Betty Parsons Foundation's support for a portion of Art Matters grants. These named fellowships specifically support women/female-identified artists to honor the influential legacy of artist and gallerist Betty Parsons.

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The 2022 Artist2Artist Fellows are listed alongside their self-identified location:
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Panteha Abareshi
California

Rena Anakwe
Lenapehoking, Canarsie-Munsee Territory - Brooklyn, NY

Joss Barton
The Occupied Lands of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations - Chicago, IL 

Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter
Lenapehoking - Philadelphia, PA

Ezra Benus
Lenapehoking - Brooklyn, NY

illx / Pablo Varona Borges
San Juan, PR

Tiffany Chung | 2010 Alumni
Houston, TX
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Shani Peters & Joseph Cuillier (The Black School)
New Orleans, LA

Jeremy Dennis
Unceded Lands of the Shinnecock Nation - Southampton, NY

devynn emory
Lenapehoking, Canarsie-Munsee Territory - Brooklyn, NY

Amara Abdal Figueroa | 2019 Alumni & 2022 Betty Parsons Fellow
Federación Antillana - Ponce, Puerto Rico

Daesha Devón Harris
Saratoga Springs, NY

Nicole Hall (IdentityInc!)
Farmington, NM

Axel Eden
Brooklyn, NY

Paul John
New York, NY & Maastricht, NL

Tish Jones | 2019 Alumni
Dakota & Ojibwa Land - Saint Paul, MN

M. Carmen Lane (ATNSC)
Cleveland, OH

Wit López
Lenapehoking - Philadelphia, PA

Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad
Lenapehoking - Philadelphia, PA

Ilknur Ozgur (Artstillery)
Dallas, TX

phlegm
New Orleans, LA

Chef Sherry Pocknett (Sly Fox Den)
Preston, CT

Kameelah Janan Rasheed | 2014 Alumni & 2022 Betty Parsons Fellow
Brooklyn, NY

Dr. Treasure Shields Redmond (Fannie Lou Hamer House)
Fairview Heights, IL

Viva Ruiz
Lenapehoking - Brooklyn, NY

Lady Shug | 2020 Alumni
Diné (Navajo) Nation Territory - Farmington, NM

Jaiko Suzuki
New York, NY

Brian Walker II
Anchorage, AK

Allison Akootchook Warden | 2015 Alumni
Fairbanks, AK

Tassiana Willis
Ohlone "Yemalu" Territory - San Francisco, CA

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Image: Beach Access (series) by 2022 Artist2Artist Fellow, Jeremy Dennis, “is based on frustrations that the Shinnecock Nation community has experienced due to lack of accessibility to their ancestral beaches in Southampton town. Residents of Southampton Village can park at the local Coopers Beach for free, but non-residents must pay $50 per day or $400 for the season, including Shinnecock Tribal members. For thousands of years, Shinnecock people were whalers, canoers, Quahog Shell craftspeople, and thrived along Long Island's shores, but today must pay to practice these traditions. In Beach Access, attention is brought to this conflict by Indigenous figures blocking access from beach-goers, disallowing them to return to the sandy shores after entering the water for a swim.”

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Press:

"An Unconventional Grant That Lets Artists Pay it Forward" by Elaine Velie in Hyperallergic, December 15, 2022.