Six women artists are among 25 people selected by the MacArthur Foundation to receive prestigious 2022 MacArthur fellowships (known as ‘genius grants’) in recognition of their extraordinary creativity and promise to advance the future of their fields.
These six women whose pioneering work brings insight and inspiration — a literary historian, a plant ecologist, three musicians, and an architect — will each receive $800,000, a no-strings-attached award as an investment in their potential.
“The 2022 MacArthur fellows are architects of new modes of activism, artistic practice, and citizen science,” says MacArthur Fellows Director, Marlies Carruth. “They are excavators uncovering what has been overlooked, undervalued, or poorly understood. They are archivists reminding us of what should survive.”
Congratulations to Martha Gonzalez, Musician, Scholar and Artist/Activist!
Self-described ‘artivista’ (artist-activist), musician and scholar, Martha Gonzalez cultivates collaborative methods of artistic expression to strengthen cross-border ties, build communities, and advance social justice. She has been an integral part of the East Los Angeles music collective Quetzal, a key participant in the annual community event FandangObon, and co-creator of Entre Mujeres, a cross-border recording project with women in Veracruz, Mexico.
Gonzalez earned a Ph.D. from the University of Washington at Seattle in 2013. She is currently an associate professor in the Intercollegiate Department of Chicana/o Latina/o Studies and director of the Scripps Humanities Institute.
“As a Chicana feminist I am really concerned with the liberation of all people that are oppressed by systems of power. And as a musician, I’m bringing my skill sets in order to have communities dissect these systems of power through music and music dialogue,” she says.
© Reanne Rodrigues (12/27/22) — Special for FF2 Media
LEARN MORE / DO MORE
To learn more about Martha Gonzalez, please visit the MacArthur site here.
CREDITS & PERMISSIONS
Featured photo courtesy of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
