2022 Fellows
Tanzila Ahmed (Multimedia) August 23 – October 3, 2022
Tanzila Ahmed is a political strategist, storyteller and multimedia artist based in Los Angeles. She has spent the majority of her life dancing at the intersection of activism and art as a South Asian Muslim 2nd-generation immigrant American woman. Growing up in Southern California, it was hard to find representation as a Muslim American. But every time she would visit the desert, she noticed the date trees imported from Morocco, the cities named after places like Mecca and Bombay Beach and the Moorish Revival architecture. The contradiction between the two thoughts – negative anti-Muslim hate and positive oriental fantasy – existing side by side is an area Tanzila wants to explore by creating mixed media art and a series of essays for a forthcoming book while at JTHAR.
Tanzila Ahmed is a political strategist, storyteller and multimedia artist based in Los Angeles. She has spent the majority of her life dancing at the intersection of activism and art as a South Asian Muslim 2nd-generation immigrant American woman. Growing up in Southern California, it was hard to find representation as a Muslim American. But every time she would visit the desert, she noticed the date trees imported from Morocco, the cities named after places like Mecca and Bombay Beach and the Moorish Revival architecture. The contradiction between the two thoughts – negative anti-Muslim hate and positive oriental fantasy – existing side by side is an area Tanzila wants to explore by creating mixed media art and a series of essays for a forthcoming book while at JTHAR.
Marta Bausells (Writer) January 23 – March 6, 2023
Marta Bausells is a writer, editor and multidisciplinary artist based in London. Her work often involves the myth of reinvention, the ways we crave and deprive ourselves of connection, relationships and the power dynamics within, language and miscommunication, our fraught relationship with nature, and ecology and radical futures. During her stay at JTHAR, Marta will revise and edit the sections of her novel, Ultramarine, which are set in Joshua Tree and work on Forget the Sun, her memoir about memory, art and healing centering on several generations of women and queer people and investigating the emotional ramifications of the Spanish Civil War.
Marta Bausells is a writer, editor and multidisciplinary artist based in London. Her work often involves the myth of reinvention, the ways we crave and deprive ourselves of connection, relationships and the power dynamics within, language and miscommunication, our fraught relationship with nature, and ecology and radical futures. During her stay at JTHAR, Marta will revise and edit the sections of her novel, Ultramarine, which are set in Joshua Tree and work on Forget the Sun, her memoir about memory, art and healing centering on several generations of women and queer people and investigating the emotional ramifications of the Spanish Civil War.
Bremner Benedict (Photographer) October 10 – November 21, 2022
Bremner Benedict is a photographer based in Concord, MA. While at JTHAR, Bremner will continue work on her project Hidden Waters, a research and photography series that focuses on disappearing desert springs in the American West. She will use her time at the residency to expand her creative process by combining prints and xeroxes of her work with historical photos and natural materials and embedding them in the landscape to be rephotographed. The Mojave Desert faces increasing population, development, and water aquifer depletion due to severe long-term drought and Cadiz Inc. water mining extraction. Creating an artistic body of work that illustrates the beauty, fragility, and destruction of springs in the landscape is an intrinsically environmental project that could help to protect these endangered ecosystems and serve as a call to action.
Bremner Benedict is a photographer based in Concord, MA. While at JTHAR, Bremner will continue work on her project Hidden Waters, a research and photography series that focuses on disappearing desert springs in the American West. She will use her time at the residency to expand her creative process by combining prints and xeroxes of her work with historical photos and natural materials and embedding them in the landscape to be rephotographed. The Mojave Desert faces increasing population, development, and water aquifer depletion due to severe long-term drought and Cadiz Inc. water mining extraction. Creating an artistic body of work that illustrates the beauty, fragility, and destruction of springs in the landscape is an intrinsically environmental project that could help to protect these endangered ecosystems and serve as a call to action.
Cheryl Derricotte (Visual Artist) January 23 – March 6, 2023
Cheryl Derricotte is a visual artist currently living in San Fransisco. Her art is based on historical research and is often created using glass and paper. During her stay at JTHAR, Cheryl will research the desert fan palm, including but not limited to the fire-resistant nature of the tree and its historical importance to local Indigenous culture, particularly as it pertained to their concept of home. After gathering information from books, articles and the public domain, Cheryl will visit the oases in Joshua Tree to photograph the contemporary environments of these trees to use as source material for the creation of artworks including short writings, works-on-paper and artists books. As an artist, Cheryl has been deepening her understanding of the history of trees, as they often give us the perfect vehicle to frame a contemporary conversation about what she calls the Three C's: Capitalism, Colonialism and Climate Change.
Cheryl Derricotte is a visual artist currently living in San Fransisco. Her art is based on historical research and is often created using glass and paper. During her stay at JTHAR, Cheryl will research the desert fan palm, including but not limited to the fire-resistant nature of the tree and its historical importance to local Indigenous culture, particularly as it pertained to their concept of home. After gathering information from books, articles and the public domain, Cheryl will visit the oases in Joshua Tree to photograph the contemporary environments of these trees to use as source material for the creation of artworks including short writings, works-on-paper and artists books. As an artist, Cheryl has been deepening her understanding of the history of trees, as they often give us the perfect vehicle to frame a contemporary conversation about what she calls the Three C's: Capitalism, Colonialism and Climate Change.
Rachael Delaney (Fiber Artist) August 23 – October 3, 2022
Rachael Delaney is an educator and fiber artist based in Denver, Colorado. During her stay in Joshua Tree, Rachel will conduct artistic fieldwork to document, draw and photograph critical native species to the area. The data collected will be used to create postcard-sized botanical illustrations utilizing the process of needle felting. The use of thread to recreate the plants and their hidden root systems is an attempt to illustrate the strength and fragility of the region's ecosystem. In addition, the artwork created will educate visitors to the area about the importance of invasive plant species and water conservation in the environment.
Rachael Delaney is an educator and fiber artist based in Denver, Colorado. During her stay in Joshua Tree, Rachel will conduct artistic fieldwork to document, draw and photograph critical native species to the area. The data collected will be used to create postcard-sized botanical illustrations utilizing the process of needle felting. The use of thread to recreate the plants and their hidden root systems is an attempt to illustrate the strength and fragility of the region's ecosystem. In addition, the artwork created will educate visitors to the area about the importance of invasive plant species and water conservation in the environment.
Miles W. Griffis (Writer) May 2 – June 13, 2022
Miles W. Griffis is an independent journalist and essayist living in Los Angeles whose work covers a variety of beats from LGBTQ+ issues to environmental science. While in residency at JTHAR, he will work on two essays in his debut creative non-fiction collection Confetti Western. This forthcoming publication features articles that examine the natural and pop-cultural histories of the deserts in the American Southwest through a queer lens.
Miles W. Griffis is an independent journalist and essayist living in Los Angeles whose work covers a variety of beats from LGBTQ+ issues to environmental science. While in residency at JTHAR, he will work on two essays in his debut creative non-fiction collection Confetti Western. This forthcoming publication features articles that examine the natural and pop-cultural histories of the deserts in the American Southwest through a queer lens.
Yulia Kazakova (Painter) October 10 – November 21, 2022
Yulia Kazakova is a visual artist from Moscow, currently living and working in Berlin. Her work focuses on the aesthetic of the ruins between a futuristic dream and a dystopic nightmare. During her stay at JTHAR, Yulia will work on a series of paintings which confronts the idyllic scenery of the desert with an imaginary industrial landscape caused by human destruction of the sensitive ecosystem. She will construct landscapes, that intensify the fragility of nature by contrasting them with industry, thereby letting the viewer think about the value of unique, unspoiled nature. This body of work will serve as a warning about the possible future worlds that our society may face.
Yulia Kazakova is a visual artist from Moscow, currently living and working in Berlin. Her work focuses on the aesthetic of the ruins between a futuristic dream and a dystopic nightmare. During her stay at JTHAR, Yulia will work on a series of paintings which confronts the idyllic scenery of the desert with an imaginary industrial landscape caused by human destruction of the sensitive ecosystem. She will construct landscapes, that intensify the fragility of nature by contrasting them with industry, thereby letting the viewer think about the value of unique, unspoiled nature. This body of work will serve as a warning about the possible future worlds that our society may face.
Stephanie Shih (Photographer) May 2 – June 13, 2022
Stephanie Shih is a visual still life artist and photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Los Angeles. Having moonlighted as a caterer during school, translating the experience of food—and the cultural load that food carries—into the visual image has been a driving throughline of her work ever since. While at JTHAR, Shih will work on two new multimedia still life projects, in the studio and out in the environment, that follow inanimate, manmade objects in their experience with the biodiversity of the desert and the undeniable human presence therein.
Stephanie Shih is a visual still life artist and photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Los Angeles. Having moonlighted as a caterer during school, translating the experience of food—and the cultural load that food carries—into the visual image has been a driving throughline of her work ever since. While at JTHAR, Shih will work on two new multimedia still life projects, in the studio and out in the environment, that follow inanimate, manmade objects in their experience with the biodiversity of the desert and the undeniable human presence therein.
Dawn Stetzel (Performance Artist & Sculptor) June 27 – August 8, 2022
Dawn Stetzel is a performative sculptor currently living on the Long Beach Peninsula, Washington. While at JTHAR, Dawn will build a sculpture with salvaged material that tells a story of place and will include documentation of the potential performative aspect within the work. Her art objects interact with an environment. They are tools to navigate a landscape, worn or manually operated and push her strength, safety, and comfort. This process places Dawn's work between sculpture and performance. The sculpture will embrace the aesthetics of repair and resourcefulness and use a low-tech approach with materials gleaned from the surroundings. The exact nature of the sculpture will be informed by the specifics of the social and geographical history of Joshua Tree combined with the environmental concerns of the area.
Dawn Stetzel is a performative sculptor currently living on the Long Beach Peninsula, Washington. While at JTHAR, Dawn will build a sculpture with salvaged material that tells a story of place and will include documentation of the potential performative aspect within the work. Her art objects interact with an environment. They are tools to navigate a landscape, worn or manually operated and push her strength, safety, and comfort. This process places Dawn's work between sculpture and performance. The sculpture will embrace the aesthetics of repair and resourcefulness and use a low-tech approach with materials gleaned from the surroundings. The exact nature of the sculpture will be informed by the specifics of the social and geographical history of Joshua Tree combined with the environmental concerns of the area.
Diego Sagastume (Visual Artist) Dates to be announced
Diego Sagastume is a self-taught artist and coder living and working in Guatemala City and the recipient of our 2022 Alma Ruiz Fellowship. Mainly focused on sculpture, photography, and video, his work analyzes the city as a space in which, through the confluence of multiple agents, tangible and intangible phenomena take place, as well as processes of mutual transformation between individuals and their surroundings. He is co-founder of Riña, an artist-run gallery and La Construcción, an exhibition space, both based in Guatemala City.
Diego Sagastume is a self-taught artist and coder living and working in Guatemala City and the recipient of our 2022 Alma Ruiz Fellowship. Mainly focused on sculpture, photography, and video, his work analyzes the city as a space in which, through the confluence of multiple agents, tangible and intangible phenomena take place, as well as processes of mutual transformation between individuals and their surroundings. He is co-founder of Riña, an artist-run gallery and La Construcción, an exhibition space, both based in Guatemala City.
Christine Vines (Writer) June 27 – August 8, 2022
Christine Vines is a fiction writer from Wichita, KS. Her work examines what it means to occupy separate realities and how we communicate and fail to communicate across them. For the last 8 years, she has been on a book and story collection that delve into questions surrounding gender, sexuality, religious faith, emotionality, and abuse. Her work explores the ways these various issues intersect and affect one another. During her residency at JTHAR, Christine will focus on the story collection, JOYLAND, which alternates between realism and fabulism, and asks how we navigate a world in which our realities have moved further apart.
Christine Vines is a fiction writer from Wichita, KS. Her work examines what it means to occupy separate realities and how we communicate and fail to communicate across them. For the last 8 years, she has been on a book and story collection that delve into questions surrounding gender, sexuality, religious faith, emotionality, and abuse. Her work explores the ways these various issues intersect and affect one another. During her residency at JTHAR, Christine will focus on the story collection, JOYLAND, which alternates between realism and fabulism, and asks how we navigate a world in which our realities have moved further apart.