The Open Society Foundations (OSF) has announced its 2023 Soros Arts Fellows.

Through the program, 18 mid-career artists will each receive $100,000 for impact-driven art projects centered around the 2023 theme of “Art, Land, and Public Memory.” This year marks the fellowship’s largest cohort, and recipients hail from Brazil, Colombia, Guinea, Iraq, Mexico, Morocco, Palestine, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, South Africa, Syria, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota Tribes, the United States, and their diasporas.

Recipients include Martha Atienza, who is creating a series of collaborative artworks with fishing communities of Bantayan Island; Jordan Weber, who is producing a regenerative ecologies project to transform a square acre of forest in East Detroit; Ixchel Tonāntzin Xōchitlzihuatl, who will organize a multi-tribal art and land rematriation project in the Ecuadorian Amazon; and Rijin Sahakian, who will trace the legacies of war-making on the physical, cultural, and psychic landscapes between Iraq and the U.S.

“Art and culture are essential drivers for social change,” said Tatiana Mouarbes, OSF team manager for culture and art, expression. “One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is the health of our planet. Through their art and culture work, the 2023 Soros Arts Fellows are taking action to help heal a planet in crisis through community-led solutions for environmental justice. We are proud to support their visions.” 

For a complete list of the 2023 Soros Arts Fellows, see the Open Society Foundations website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/ASKA)