This year, the Vilcek Foundation doubled its prizes in the arts and humanities by bestowing awards in two categories: Visual Arts and Curatorial Work. Granting $250,000 to Visual Arts and $250,000 for Curatorial Work, these prizes recognize immigrant art professionals and curators whose work has a profound impact on their institutions, and on contemporary art history.
The recipients of the Vilcek Prizes in Curatorial Work investigate Blackness in the history of photography, global art history and approaches, the art of the Americas, and emerging and radical artists from the Global South.
Oluremi C. Onabanjo, 2025 Vilcek Prize in Curatorial Work
Born in the UK to Nigerian parents, Oluremi C. Onabanjo is an art historian and curator in the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Her work examines power, position, and production of Blackness within the ongoing history of photography.
Donna Honarpisheh, Creative Promise Prize in Curatorial Work
Born in Canada to Iranian parents, Donna Honarpisheh is an associate curator of art and research at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami). She uses a multidisciplinary approach to address the historic and ongoing omissions of global artists and movements in Western art history and institutions.
Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Creative Promise Prize in Curatorial Work
Aimé Iglesias Lukin is the chief curator of art at the Americas Society. The Argentinian immigrant has led initiatives promoting the art of the Americas and historically underrepresented migrant and women artists.
Bernardo Mosqueira, Creative Promise Prize in Curatorial Work
Originally from Brazil, Bernardo Mosqueira is the chief curator for the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), committed to building institutions, frameworks, and platforms for emerging and radical artists, especially those from the Global South, Latin America, and diasporic communities.
By increasing the number of awardees, the foundation hopes to bring awareness to those whose work is often under-recognized despite being essential to our lives.
To learn more, visit vilcek.org.
