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Home › News & Events › News › Sama Alshaibi Awarded 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship

Sama Alshaibi Awarded 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship

April 27, 2021

The Photography, Video and Imaging Professor will use the award for a project highlighting the experiences of women and girls in war-torn Iraq.

Sama Alshaibi’s “The Cessation” featuring neon, aluminum, acrylic, palm fronds, water, copper, terracotta, and sound was commissioned by Artpace San Antonio in 2019.
Seale Photography Studios

University of Arizona School of Art professor Sama Alshaibi is among 184 artists, writers, scholars and scientists to receive a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Alshaibi, a photographic and video artist, is co-chair of the School of Art’s nationally ranked Photography, Video and Imaging program.

“I am honored to receive the Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography. I am also deeply grateful to my colleagues, students and the community at the University of Arizona for their creative and intellectual engagement over the years,” Alshaibi said. “Our collaborations and conversations have greatly benefited my research and artwork.”

Sama Alshaibi
Sama Alshaibi
Zakiriya Gladney

 

Since 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted nearly $400 million in fellowships to over 18,000 individuals, many of whom went on to be named Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, poets laureate and recipients of other national and international honors.

This year’s recipients were chosen through a peer-review process of nearly 3,000 applicants.

“I am thrilled to see Sama Alshaibi on the distinguished list of Guggenheim Fellows for 2021,” said Andy Schulz, dean of the College of Fine Arts. “Not only is this award a significant recognition of her standing as a leading figure in contemporary art, it also provides her with critical support as she continues to push the boundaries of her field. As we continue to elevate the arts at the University of Arizona, the groundbreaking work of fine arts faculty such as Sama provides important evidence that creative practice is a critical part of the university’s reputation as a leading research university.”

“Recognition as a Guggenheim fellow is one of the most prestigious and highly visible honors in the arts,” said Colin Blakely, director of the School of Art. “This achievement is the mark of an artist who has distinguished their work and its relevance in profound ways. I am delighted to see this well-earned honor bestowed upon Sama.”

‘To Speak of Silence’

As a woman, a native of Iraq and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Alshaibi uses her work not only to culturally translate between two vastly different countries but to communicate complex and emotionally fraught topics.

Her Guggenheim Fellowship project, “To Speak of Silence,” will use images, video and text to shed light on the ways in which Iraqi women are affected in wartime.

Iraq has experienced political turmoil and upheaval for decades. Much of what the world sees of those conflicts is imagery of gunfights and bombings, but Alshaibi focuses on the devastation beyond the shooting and explosions.

“The devaluation of Iraqi women’s lives exists in the judicial sense, in terms of the new 2005 Iraqi constitution, and by the conditions of sexualized political violence accelerated by the rise and rule of ISIL,” Alshaibi said.

With a country constantly fighting with foreign and domestic adversaries, Alshaibi says bureaucratic structures like the judiciary system are not able to meet the needs of those who are the least represented in governing bodies and the most in need of its services. Consequently, she says women are routinely harassed, kidnapped, or brutalized with no recourse or accountability.

“My practice is a union of these immediate concerns: a commitment to share an Arab American, feminist perspective through a bodily site of struggle and identification,” Alshaibi said.

Alshaibi was profiled as part of the University of Arizona’s “Wonder” campaign. See her feature on YouTube.

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University of Arizona School of Art
19 hours ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Congrats, Mata Ruda (MFA '19), on your new installation in New York City! ... See MoreSee Less

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Alumnus Mata Ruda creates art installation in NYC - Arizona Arts

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Karlito Miller Espinosa (MFA ‘19, Studio Art) AKA Mata Ruda unveiled a new art installation “Esta Tierra es Nuestra Tierra” in New York City.
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University of Arizona School of Art
19 hours ago
University of Arizona School of Art

What a summer for Deborah Ruiz! Congrats! ... See MoreSee Less

What a summer for Deborah Ruiz! Congrats!Image attachmentImage attachment
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Penland School of Craft

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University of Arizona School of Art
2 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

We're proud to share this Q&A with Gem Elena Abarca, a 3D and Extended Media major. Each year, the College of Fine Arts selects a student to highlight as part of TeenLife's Performing & Visual Arts College advertisement, which reaches prospective students internationally. "I came into my first year being an engineering student, but ... took a leap to follow my passion and dream of being an artist." We're so glad you took the leap, Gem! issuu.com/teenlife/docs/pva_guide_2023_digital Arizona Arts The University of Arizona ... See MoreSee Less

Were proud to share this Q&A with Gem Elena Abarca, a 3D and Extended Media major. Each year, the College of Fine Arts selects a student to highlight as part of TeenLifes Performing & Visual Arts College advertisement, which reaches prospective students internationally. I came into my first year being an engineering student, but ... took a leap to follow my passion and dream of being an artist. Were so glad you took the leap, Gem! https://issuu.com/teenlife/docs/pva_guide_2023_digital  Arizona Arts The University of Arizona
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Gem is the perfect ambassador for this program!

Gem! Truly outrageous!

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University of Arizona School of Art
2 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Check out our September newsletter — conta.cc/3LlzXRt — featuring the VASE Lecture series lineup for 2023-24; a border project by Mellon recipient and MFA candidate Nathan Cordova; Assistant Prof. Jeehey Kim's new groundbreaking book, "Photography and Korea" ... and more. Arizona Arts The University of Arizona Arizona Alumni ... See MoreSee Less

Check out our September newsletter — https://conta.cc/3LlzXRt — featuring the VASE Lecture series lineup for 2023-24; a border project by Mellon recipient and MFA candidate Nathan Cordova; Assistant Prof. Jeehey Kims new groundbreaking book, Photography and Korea ... and more. Arizona Arts The University of Arizona Arizona Alumni
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University of Arizona School of Art
2 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Meet Nathan Cordova, an MFA candidate in the school’s nationally ranked Photography, Video and Imaging program, who's hard at work on his "Ghosts and Shadows" audio/visual project for the Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellowship. Not only is Nathan interviewing his labor-activist uncle, but the grad student also is curious about "the way I’ve proposed to engage with the agency of the material that comprises a lot of the border wall.” tinyurl.com/388tydke Arizona Arts Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry The University of Arizona Mellon Foundation Society for Photographic Education University of Arizona Museum of Art Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona Center for Latin American Studies ... See MoreSee Less

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Mellon recipient Cordova hopes art project adds to border discourse – School of Art

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Mellon recipient Cordova hopes art project adds to border discourse September 13, 2023 By Michael Chesnick School of Art As part of his fellowship to study and interpret the U.S.-Mexico border, Nathan...
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University of Arizona School of Art
2 weeks ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Way to go, Ricardo! ... See MoreSee Less

Way to go, Ricardo!Image attachmentImage attachment
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Ricardo also is a Tyson Scholar in American Art for the fall 2023 semester at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. art.arizona.edu/news/phd-candidate-chavez-named-tyson-scholar/

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