The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named 27 new MacArthur Fellows for 2025, including visual artists Gala Porras-Kim, Jeremy Frey, Matt Black, Garrett Bradley, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen. Each recipient receives $800,000 over five years in unrestricted "genius grants." Porras-Kim, known for institutional critiques, has recent solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Bern, Museo delle Civiltà, and Kukje Gallery. Nguyen, whose work examines colonialism and war in Vietnam, is a co-founder of The Propeller Group and Sàn Art. Frey, a seventh-generation Wabanaki basket-maker, recently had a solo show at the Portland Museum of Art that traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago.
The MacArthur Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards in the arts and sciences, providing unrestricted funding that allows recipients creative freedom. This year's cohort highlights the foundation's continued commitment to supporting artists who engage with social justice, Indigenous traditions, and institutional critique. The inclusion of artists like Porras-Kim, Frey, and Nguyen underscores the MacArthur Foundation's role in elevating visual artists whose work addresses pressing cultural and historical issues, from provenance and conservation to colonialism and Indigenous knowledge.