November 20, 2024—Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) today announced the recipients of its 2024 awards, which recognize 15 woman-identifying artists over 40 years of age who have made significant contributions while continuing to create new work. Each recipient receives an unrestricted award of $50,000. Since its founding in 1996 by artist Susan Unterberg, AWAW has awarded $25,000 to at least ten artists a year, but starting this year and moving forward, the organization will increase the award to $50,000 given annually to 15 artists.
Today the organization also launched the Anonymous Was A Woman Artist Survey, a first-of-its-kind study that aims to gain a better understanding of women artists’ lives and careers, and the factors contributing to their successes and challenges. Women visual artists of all ages are invited to contribute responses. The survey and resulting report are produced in collaboration with journalists Charlotte Burns and Julia Halperin, arts leader Loring Randolph, and SMU Data Arts. The findings will be made publicly available on April 9, 2025 as part of the Artists Speak: The Anonymous Was A Woman Symposium, a free talks program at New York University organized by Burns, Halperin, Randolph and AWAW, coinciding with the exhibition Anonymous Was a Woman: The First 25 Years at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University.
The 2024 Anonymous Was A Woman award recipients are:
Erica Baum, 63
Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, 42
Mary Lee Bendolph, 89
Natalie Bookchin, 62
Rashida Bumbray, 46
Mary Ellen Carroll, 62
Robin Hill, 69
Joyce Kozloff, 81
Jen Liu, 48
Gladys Nilsson, 84
Liz Phillips, 73
Liliana Porter, 83
Shirley Tse, 56
Takako Yamaguchi, 72
Constantina Zavitsanos, 47
Winners were chosen from among a competitive pool of applicants recommended by a group of distinguished art historians, curators, writers, and artists who serve as anonymous nominators. The 2024 award recipients range in age from 42 to 89, and work in mediums including painting, installation, performance, photography, quilting, film and video, and new media. They span from Gee's Bend master quilter Mary Lee Bendolph to performance artist, curator, and choreographer Rashida Bumbray; from Joyce Kozloff, a major figure in both the Pattern and Decoration and the Feminist art movements, to Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, a multidisciplinary artist and activist whose socially conscious work is often rooted in her own experiences of incarceration and reproductive justice; from Gladys Nilsson, a celebrated member of the “Hairy Who” Chicago Imagists, to Liz Phillips, a pioneer of sound art and interactive installation. The “no strings-attached” award is intended to provide them freedom to continue development of their creative vision.