Grantmaking organization Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) have awarded 19 women artists grants of up to $20,000 for projects promoting environmental conservation. The third tranche of Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants (AWAW EAG) distributed a total of $308,000 to women artists from the United States and U.S. territories who will work in places such as Ghana, Colombia, and across the United States (including Puerto Rico).
Since 1996, AWAW has awarded over $7 million in unrestricted grants to nearly 300 women artists. The AWAW EAG was launched in 2022 with a budget of $250,000.
“We have already used our platform at AWAW to address the ongoing inequality in funding for female artists,” says AWAW founder Susan Unterberg The art newspaper“Now in our third year, we are expanding our influence to also fund work that addresses the climate crisis – and, most importantly, to inspire further action.”
More than 900 applications were received for the 2024 scholarship program. “The enormous response is proof that artists want to address the practical and existential crises of our present,” says Unterberg. “It has been shown that addressing climate issues through art activates the audience’s ability to act.”
Behind the scenes of Dara Friedman’s Sky Woman Women’s Project (2024) Photo: Fileve Tlaloc
Several winning projects deal with indigenous issues, including Dara Friedman’s Sky Woman Women’s Project (2024). This film aims to inspire a life in harmony with nature. 16 women between the ages of eight and 80 tell different versions of the Haudenosaunee creation story of the Sky Woman – a figure who falls from the sky and creates the entire world from just a handful of earth.
Other projects focus on the interrelationship between resource extraction and environmental degradation, such as Loren Waters and Rebecca Jims ᏗᏂᏠᎯ ᎤᏪᏯ (Meet me at the stream). The 2024 short film follows Jim on their initiative to restore Tar Creek in Oklahoma, a Superfund site since the 1980s that is considered “irreversibly damaged.” The land, one of the most toxic sites in the U.S., was originally owned by the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma; it was contaminated by lead and zinc mining that took place there from 1900 to the 1960s.
Many other projects address textile pollution, which causes 10% of global CO2 emissions. Victoria-Idongesit Udondians “Okrika” recaptured!developed in Accra, Ghana, addresses the impact of textile waste in Africa. It focuses on the Kantamanto market, one of the world’s largest open-air clothing markets, and associated textile dumps. The artist plans to organize workshops and clean-up events and reuse some of the waste for art installations that will later be used to make furniture.
Each of the selected projects will include a public engagement component and is expected to be completed by August 2025.
Victoria-Idongesit Udonian’s About 1000 (2013) Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Previous examples of AWAW EAG’s citizen participation projects include Sol Aramendis Forest Abierto / Open forestthat explored the connections between nature and cultural heritage and culminated in a three-day intensive camp in upstate New York in 2023. Throughout the weekend, participants explored ancestral ceremonies and participated in artistic work under the guidance of an artist, a scientist, and an herbalist.
Another highlight was Sarah Kavages Water carriera sculpture made of willow branches on the banks of the Duwamish River south of Seattle. It was created in collaboration with volunteers and teams from a green jobs training program and an environmental restoration company. The ongoing project aims to build community and transform a once-neglected park; it included an event where participants spread mulch and planted plants.
In the meantime, Rebekah Joys Flux Bene 10k Clothing Project is an ongoing project focused on creating zero-waste and gender-neutral clothing. Since its launch in 2021, the project has received more than 10,000 used garments – reclaimed from landfills and made into new clothing – and hosted workshops where people learn to make clothing from scraps. The public event was a community clothing swap where participants dyed, stamped and patched 842 garments into new pieces.
“This kind of work deserves much more attention and resources, far beyond what we can support through the AWAW EAG,” says Unterberg. “I was very pleased to hear that the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize that the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA recently launched, and I encourage other philanthropists to support art that engages with our shared future.”
