The five artists will head to Iran, Malaysia, Peru, and other countries to conduct research and expand their skills
"Interlacing Roots," 2022, by Anela Ming-Yue Oh. Photo: Courtesy of Oh
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University has announced its 2022 class of SMFA at Tufts Traveling Fellows. The five artists will journey to places around the world to conduct research and find inspiration for their art.
Since 1899, the SMFA Traveling Fellowships program, one of the largest endowed art school grant programs in the United States, has provided critical early-career support for SMFA at Tufts alumni. Selected by a jury, SMFA Traveling Fellowship recipients receive up to $10,000 to explore locales and visit communities that will inform current or future art endeavors. This year’s fellows plan to travel to Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan, and Philadelphia.
Here are the fellows and their destinations:
"Boghcheh (bundle),” 2022, by Minoo Emami Alagha. Photo: Courtesy of Emami Alagha
Minoo Emami Alagha, A19 (BFA), will return to her home country of Iran to work with traditional artisans to refine and expand her glassmaking capabilities, conduct experiential interviews with Iranian families, and visually document recent Iranian women’s and human rights movements.
Anela Ming-Yue Oh, A19 (BFA), will travel to Penang, Malaysia, her father’s birthplace, to shadow batik artisans and other craftspeople while incorporating their methodologies into her practice.
Norah Solorzano (Post-Bacc 2005), will travel around Peru to study textile arts and incorporate her findings into a multimedia installation, the centerpiece of which will be a mixed media animation that experiments with textile imagery.
“Boxes/Cajas,” 2021–present, by Norah Solorzano. Video still: Courtesy of Solorzano
Che Yeh, AG22 (MFA), will travel to Taiwan and Philadelphia to research the past and present of Ailanthus altissima, an East Asian plant that is considered an “invasive species” in North America, and to speculate on its cross-species relationship with immigrants from East Asia.
“In regard to ourselves and others,” 2022, by Che Yeh. Photo: Courtesy of Yeh
Chloe Zimmerman, A10 (BA/BFA), will travel around Mexico to conduct artistic research and film with local mycologists and ecologists, and co-program a related film, art, and poetry series.
“Plume,” 2022, by Chloe Zimmerman. Video still: Courtesy of Zimmerman
The application process is open to SMFA at Tufts alumni working in any contemporary visual art discipline. This year’s jurors were Daniela Rivera, AG06 (MFA), the Barbara Morris Caspersen professor of humanities and professor of art at Wellesley College and a 2014 Traveling Fellow; theo tyson, the Penny Vinik curator of fashion arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Nina Bozicnik, AG08, curator at the Henry Art Gallery.
