Harpo Foundation 2022 grant recipient, Stephanie J. Woods
Congratulations to the Harpo Foundation 2022 grant recipient, Interdisciplinary instructor, Stephanie J. Woods!!
Stephanie Woods’ work fuses a relationship between fiber and digital technology to examine performative behavior and the cognitive effects of forced cultural assimilation. Her research surveys the psychological impact of intergenerational trauma, the politicization of afro hair, and unravels the everyday coping devices and affirmations we establish to survive. In addition to fiber, Woods further explores these concepts by employing photography, video, sculpture. and community-engaged projects in her practice.
She is passionate about interdisciplinary approaches and material language. Material language plays an essential part in her visual language, such as the use of hair weave, afro hair, Carolina red clay, sweet tea, and much more. Woods’ use of material language combined with iconography examines domestic spaces and alternative realities that reference Black culture and her experiences growing up in the American South.
We’re excited to share that Myrriah Gómez, Associate Professor at the Honors College at UNM, has written an insightful article titled “Art and Activism at Highlands University” in Santa Fe Magazine, El Palacio.
Jessamyn Lovell: Artist, Investigator, Innovator
Blending art, inquiry, and lived experience, Jessamyn Lovell creates work that challenges perceptions while forging new paths in contemporary photography.
MFA Alum Emma Ressel Awarded Postdoctoral Fellowship at Center for Regional Studies
Emma Ressel is an artist working with large format film photography, re-photography, and archives. Her current work researches natural history collections to examine how we describe nature to ourselves over vast timescales. Ressel earned her BA in Photography at Bard...



