Tony Cokes, Wendy Red Star, and More Win McArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowships

Four artists are among the winners of this year’s MacArthur “genius” grants, each of which comes with $800,000—a sum that puts these awards among the biggest prizes given to artists in the US. Those artists are Justin Vivian Bond, Tony Cokes, Ebony G. Patterson, and Wendy Red Star.

Bond, who stages cabaret performances in addition to making pieces for art spaces, has used camp strategies to comment on issues facing the queer community, often with a specific focus on trans identity. They recently staged The Devil’s on the Loose, a performance at Joe’s Pub in New York that included covers of songs by Lana Del Rey, Kesha, and more.

Cokes is best known for his films composed mainly of text set against vibrantly colored backgrounds. Frequently set to pop music, these texts shrewdly address systems of power, showing how racism and xenophobia have fueled rules across the globe.

Patterson makes sprawling sculptural pieces that are composed of cut pieces of paper, often arranged to look like unruly plants that are growing beyond anyone’s control. These pieces are intended to address histories of colonialism while also acting as salves for the pain caused by them. She is currently co-curating the Prospect New Orleans triennial, due to open in that Louisiana city later this year.

Red Star produces photographs that unpack historical representations of Native Americans and propose new ones, frequently with an eye to her own Apsáalooke/Crow heritage. Although she has produced her own images, she has sometimes enlisted others’ pictures for her own installations, memorably redirecting ethnographic photography toward less harmful ends.

These artists were awarded fellowships alongside esteemed figures such as Severance novelist Ling Ma, Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo, and Disability Visibility Project founder Alice Wong.