Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, a painter and daughter of the late Nigerian minister, Dora Akunyili, has been awarded the prestigious 2017 MacArthur Fellowship.
Ms. Akunyili-Crosby was described by the Foundation as:
“A figurative painter whose large-scale works express the hybridity characteristic of transnational experience through choices of subject matter, materials, and techniques.”
The Fellowship, which is also referred to as the Genius Grant, awards $625,000 to artists, writers, teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and people from all works of life, that have shown exceptional creativity.
The grant is doled out in quarterly installments, made over a period of five years. Amongst past recipients is writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who received the grant in 2008.
The 24 recipients of the 2017 MacArthur Fellowship are:
- Njideka Akunyili Crowsby – Painter
- Sunil Amrith – Historian
- Greg Asbed – Human Rights Strategist
- Annie Baker – Playwright
- Regina Barzilay – Computer Scientist
- Dawoud Bey – Photographer and Educator
- Emmanuel Candes – Mathematician and Statistician
- Jason De Leon -Anthropologist
- Rhiannon Giddens – Singer, Instrumentalist & Songwriter
- Nikole Hannah-Jones – Journalist
- Cristina Jimenez Moreta – Social Justice Organizer
- Taylor Mac – Theater Artist
- Ramir Nashashibi – Community Leader
- Viet Thanh Nguyen – Fiction Writer & Culture Critic
- Kate Orff – Landscape Architect
- Trevor Paglen – Artist and Geographer
- Betsy Levy Paluck – Psychologist
- Derek Paterson – Historian
- Damon Rich – Designer & Urban Planner
- Stefan Savage – Computer Scientist
- Yuval Sharon – Opera Director & Producer
- Tyshawn Sorey – Composer & Musician
- Gabriel Victora – Immunologist
- Jesmyn Ward – Fiction Writer
