Second Annual Black Mountain College International Artist Prize Awarded to Adelita Husni-Bey

Following an extensive search across disciplines, BMC Prize nominators Arooj Aftab, Bonnie Jones, Euridice Arratia, Richard Colton, and Daniela Perez selected Adelita Husni-Bey as the recipient of the $20,000 annual grant for international or national artists working in the spirit of Black Mountain College (1933-1957). 

BMC Prize artists have the opportunity to develop their practice in a context that is rich with artistic and cultural significance and ongoing contemporary relevance through a guided site visit to the historic Black Mountain College campus at Lake Eden with BMCM+AC staff, transportation to Asheville, and a four-day stay to spend time at BMCM+AC, with a tour of the exhibitions and archival support at the museum and neighboring Western Regional Archives.

About the 2022 BMC Prize Recipient: Adelita Husni-Bey

Adelita Husni-Bey's work focuses on intersecting questions of gender, race, and class using collectivist and non-competitive pedagogical models within the framework of contemporary art. Her practice involves the analysis and counter-representation of hegemonic ideologies through popular education methodologies. Practicing as both an artist and a pedagogue she activates creative processes, such as role-playing, group undertakings, filmmaking and study sessions, producing situations for collective analysis. Working with a wide array of groups including  students, athletes, lawyers, activists and architects, Adelita has developed methodologies that allow her and her collaborators to explore their own relationship to the social and economic power of our present times.

Select Honors: Her work was part of the Italian pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2017, and her first U.S. solo exhibition Chiron was exhibited at New Museum, New York, 2019. She has participated in Being: New Photography 2018, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2018; Dreamlands, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2016; The Eighth Climate, 11th Gwangju Biennale, 2015; Really Useful Knowledge, Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, 2014; and Utopia for Sale?, MAXXI Museum, Rome, 2014.