Artist Nancy Hwanghas been selected to receive the prestigious $20,000 AHL-Jason J. Kim Grant for her upcoming project “Somewhere in America” where Hwang will solicit individuals to submit a description of a journey to somewhere in America. The artist and the invited individual will then take the journey together to discover each other, themselves, and the destination, while exploring biases, insights and local state of affairs. Through the shared primary experience of a journey worth sharing, the artist plans to form an accumulative portrait of America and present it in collaboration with curator Catherina Manchanda.
I cannot express how proud and honored I am to support artists like Nancy.
Overview
The AHL Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the AHL – Jason J. Kim Grant, a biennial grant of up to $20,000 awarded to recognize and support the accomplishments of talented artists of Korean heritage working in the United States.
Purpose
The AHL–Jason J. Kim Grant is intended for mid-career visual artists who have already demonstrated an exceptional capacity in the visual arts and aims to assist these artists in realizing specific projects while building their capacity to sustain their productive long-term careers.
The main purpose of the grant is to support the artist’s creative process and to cultivate innovative and challenging work through financial assistance during key moments in the development of an art project. Two most important criteria for the grant are artistic merit and its impact on contemporary art. An ideal recipient would be a midcareer artist with a significant record of exhibitions and must demonstrate a substantial financial need in executing an impending project.
This is a project specific grant and can only be used for the creation and exhibition/execution of a specific artwork/project. Artists cannot use this grant for their living expenses.
Learn more about this prestigious grant HERE.
Note From the Winner Nancy Hwang
I get by with a lots of help from my friends, some really good ones that both inspire me and lend me support in countless ways. I was off to Copenhagen to visit a couple of them when I received an email about the Jason J. Kim Grant from the AHL Foundation. It forced a last-minute grab for my laptop that I was going to leave behind. How do you request referral letters from super busy people who kick butt in the artworld with a deadline that is just two weeks away? You do it as soon as you have Wi-Fi on the ground. You begin with sincere apologies and thanks and get right to the point so you waste as little of their time as possible. Here is an excerpt from my email that describes the project that will occupy my next 12 months:
The project I’d like pitch for the grant is one I’ve been dreaming about for a while. It’s called Somewhere in America. It will be launched as a public contest where entrants would describe a locations in the US they’d like to visit. Submissions will be accepted in various formats (written, video,
audio) as preferred by contestants. The stipulation is that they must never have visited the proposed location previously and that they must visit it with me. It’s a one-two combo of new place with new person. Each trip will be interesting, and several of these trips together is meant to form an intimate multilayered portrait of the state of our nation today. I think it’s especially timely with the political race for the White House and the re-focus on race politics in the US.
Thank you Kirby Gookin, Paul Ha and Catharina Manchanda for saying yes and extending all the work and support that your yes entails.
Timing is like lighting for an exhibition. In museums, we always say, “It’s lighting, lighting, lighting.” In life, timing is at the core of how it unfolds. Following a period of much transition and loss, this gift from Jason J. Kim comes at a particularly poignant time for me. I would’ve never imagined someone translating their success from advancement in the field of dentistry to supporting artists in a meaningful way. Thank you to Sook Nyu Lee Kim whose passion and vision brings all of us here. My admiration for her runs deep. She knows ---clearly and simply ---how to live to be happy. Thanks to my dearest friends who care for me like family. Thank you to my brother whose only prize from having me for a sister might be that he can liken himself to Theo van Gogh. Thank you always to my parents for giving me the best of themselves and for giving me the world.