Congrats to New NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows!
Four Westchester-based artists have received an Artist Fellowship from New York State Council of the Arts / New York Foundation for the Arts, an unrestricted cash grant available to artists chosen from fifteen different disciplines over a three-year period. The Fellowship is not a project grant, but is intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice at all levels of their artistic development. Here are Westchester’s four fellows:
Lauren Acampora (Fiction)
Lauren Acampora writes fiction novels and short stories that follow characters with an obsession, all-encompassing purpose or vision, or a flawed view of the world, which often drives them to self-sabotaging behavior and turmoil. Her most recent work, supported by this NYSCA/NYFA fellowship award, is a collection of linked stories that explore how the above issues present themselves in human-animal relationships. Acampora reflects on receiving the award: “The fellowship is helping me to bridge the gap creatively and financially. I’m grateful to NYFA for its steadfast support of New York artists and for celebrating the artistic vibrancy of our incredible state.” Acampora is the author of The Wonder Garden (winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a finalist for the New England Book Award), and The Paper Wasp, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Her new novel, The Hundred Waters, will be published by Grove Atlantic in August.
Sahar al-Sawaf (Video/Film)
Sahar al-Sawaf is an Iraqi filmmaker and visual teaching artist who primarily works in documentary and animation. Al-Sawaf, who was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Lebanon and Iraq, and arrived in America days before the start of the Persian Gulf War, shares her experiences as an Iraqi refugee through her diverse works. According to the artist, her work also allows her to depict areas in the world that are often misperceived, like the Middle East, in a more positive light. Al-Sawaf, says: “Rarely do filmmakers get recognized, paid, supported…For ones like myself, an Iraqi immigrant, it is close to none. This award will continue to support my commitment to myself as a filmmaker and help me to push the bounds of my voice as a storyteller.” The filmmaker is currently working on an animated feature film, Tigris, which is set in the desolate, ruined landscape of a future Iraq and explores the trauma of a family lost in wartime.
Athena LaTocha (Painting)
Artist Athena LaTocha’s site-responsive mixed-media works investigate the human impact on the natural world. LaTocha, who is an Alaskan native and part of the Lakota and Ojibwe Indian tribe nations, is influenced by the indigenous philosophies of these areas. Her large-scale paper works aim to evoke admiration for nature’s invaluable qualities. The abstract works also comment on environmental degradation, historic and cultural narratives, and the traumatic experiences of indigenous people in the Americas. “The NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship award could not have come at a better time,” says LaTocha. With support from the award, the artist was able to hire assistants to complete work for three major exhibitions, on view at the BRIC House in Brooklyn, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey and MoMA PS1 in New York.
Hee Jung Han (Folk & Traditional Arts)
Hee Jung Han of Eastchester is one of very few professional haegeum (traditional Korean two-string fiddle) performers in the United States. As a Korean tradition bearer, performer and educator, Han uses music to build bridges between Korean and non-Korean communities in New York, New Jersey and beyond. In her own words, her performance philosophy is to “stay rooted in Korean cultural heritage, while also bringing the old into contact with the new…to situate the centuries-old haegeum within today’s contemporary social and artistic environment.” With her NYSCA/NYFA fellowship, Han will record an EP of traditional Korean music, which will be distributed on a variety of digital platforms. Along with the recording release, she hopes to organize a public performance of Korean traditional music in Westchester, which will feature leading traditional Korean musicians in the area.
A version of this article first appeared in the February 2022 issue of ArtsNews, ArtsWestchester’s monthly publication. ArtsNews is distributed throughout Westchester County. A digital copy is also available at artsw.org/artsnews.