We are pleased to announce that Johannes James Barfield (MFA ’18) is the recipient of this year’s Toby Devan Lewis fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to one student from each of the top 10 art schools in the country and is accompanied by a $10,000 stipend.
“My Eyes Due See” focuses on internal and external factors that Barfield has experienced as a black man. He grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, acutely aware of the realities facing African-Americans, such as prejudices, racial profiling and police brutality. Those realities, and the nuanced racial tensions that feed them, were woven throughout “My Eyes Due See” as Barfield navigated the differences between the perception of who America thought he was and his own self-image.
“‘My Eyes Due See’ is about clear peripheral vision and looking backward on American history and personal history while simultaneously looking into a potential future. The layering of past, present, and future are intermixed with an overlapping of personal history, American history, and future history,” Barfield wrote in his thesis for the project.
Read the full article in VCU News.
Image: Johannes James Barfield received a Toby Devan Lewis fellowship, awarded to one student from each of the 10 best art schools in the country, for “My Eyes Due See.” Credit via VCU News.
The post Johannes James Barfield receives Toby Devan Lewis fellowship appeared first on VCUarts.