2 Chicagoans Were Just Awarded MacArthur 'Genius' Grants

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 11, 2017 3:10PM

Dawoud Bey / MacArthur Foundation

We're always curious each year to see who makes the cut to receive the MacArthur Foundation's prestigious "genius" grant—a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000, allocated over five years. The fellowships are awarded to "talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction."

Two of this year's 24 recipients are based in Chicago, both of whom certainly fulfill that criteria: photographer Dawoud Bey and Muslim community leader Rami Nashashibi.

Bey, who at 63 is the oldest of this year's awardees, has long been hailed in Chicago and beyond. Here's how the MacArthur Foundation, which is also Chicago-based, describes his approach: "Using an expansive approach to photography that creates new spaces of engagement within cultural institutions, making them more meaningful to and representative of the communities in which they are situated." "Communities," particularly underrepresented ones, are definitely a key focus for Bey's large-scale portraits and landscapes, as seen in series like Harlem Redux, a three-year photographic chronicle of neighborhood gentrification.

Nashashibi, 45, serves as the executive director of the Marquette Park-based Inner-City Muslim Action Network, which provides health care, job training and other services for the uninsured, formerly incarcerated and others. Nashashibi, who initiated the Muslim Run Corner Store Campaign and helped launch the Takin' It to the Streets festival, confronts "the challenges of poverty and disinvestment in urban communities through a Muslim-led civic engagement effort that bridges race, class, and religion," the foundation wrote.

Check out the full list, which also includes favorites such as Nikole Hannah-Jones and Rhiannon Giddens, here.