The Emily Mason & Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation Grants

Farwah Rizvi is a visual artist born in Lahore, Pakistan and currently based in Queens, New York. She is pursuing an MFA in Studio Art at Hunter College.

Her interdisciplinary practice spans oil painting, water-based media, and printmaking, often unfolding across a variety of surfaces including wood, paper, linen, silk, and glass. Drawing inspiration from Persian, Indian, and Mughal miniature painting, Rizvi uses storytelling as a foundation to explore the psychological and symbolic terrain of inner demons. Rizvi’s work delves into the complexities of personal and collective identity through imaginative depictions of demon-like figures. These forms are not literal monsters but serve as manifestations of internal voices and emotional states, sometimes humorous or harmless, other times unsettling or chaotic. Her imagery prompts viewers to confront their own interpretations of these creatures, inviting introspection about what we fear, hide, or find absurd within ourselves.

Samantha Gabriela works with conceptual and visual layering, employing a variety of mixed media including photography, film, paint, metal, and collage. Her work explores fragmented memory, identity, and emotional states, as well as the ways in which the body remembers experience.

Kara Ziebelman’s work is rooted in dreams, the human condition, and a deep reverence for both the natural world and the complexities of modern life. She uses mixed media, printmaking, and painting to create layered, intimate compositions that evoke memory, emotion, and mystery. Drawing from personal narratives, folklore, research, and observation, Kara’s work uses human and animal figures to tell complex, allusive narratives.

Anastasya Peña is an abstract, color-based painter, born and raised in New York City. Peña’s artistic process reflects themes of identity and vulnerability. She first pours paint onto raw canvas as a gesture towards authenticity and interiority. She then applies thicker acrylic and oil paint to create depth and opacity. By building up layers, Peña mimics the process of identity formation. She experiments with concealment and visibility in order to expose organic interiors that evoke raw flesh, dark cavities, or hidden inner landscapes.

Gigi Lin: Hi, I’m Gigi Lin, and I am a Chinese-American activist and artist. I grew up in Chinatown and the Lower East Side, with the mindset that I would waste my time away, dreaming, in a place of seagulls. My greatest source of strength and inspiration to pursue artistic expression has been other artists and political activists, particularly other BIPOC artists that have experienced the fragmentation of their own histories and of America’s. I am interested in combining painting, sound, and film to create immersive and emotionally heightened experiences, like an orchestra of syncopated symphonies.

Alyssa is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Her work reflects her experiences with mental health, natural elements and concepts of change.

TJ Wilson: I came into this artistic journey late, I realize that I was made to be this artist and Hunter has been integral to my development. It’s great to see a path that seems to be tailor made for you and have the access, the tools, the guideposts, the network at your disposal. This is an exciting moment and I feel that it’s just the beginning.

Noelle Salaun is a painter born and raised in New York City. Her work is autobiographical, often delving into femininity, being a first generation Dominican-American, and neurodivergent.

Shannon Pritchard is a sculptor and mixed media artist from Indiana who has been living and studying in New York City for just over a year. She uses material resourcefulness learned from a working class upbringing to elevate trashy materials in a fine art context. She hopes that, through the inclusion of skillful craft and making methods, her art remains open and enjoyable to those outside of the artworld along with those within it.