(Richmond): $6,775 to create bold, feminine pieces with woodblock prints on handmade paper that portray the dissonance between her ethnic identity as a biracial Iranian woman and her “regional identity” as a printed paper quilter. Her goal is to expand her understanding of how she fits into her community, family, and region, and how that sense of belonging will create social change.

AE 2020 | (Berea): $4,154 to create six unique works inspired by women’s relationship to the natural world, particularly her relationship to Appalachia as a woman of mixed Iranian descent. This grant will allow her to explore her skills as a printmaker and answer questions about her relationship to this “space” with access to the materials and tools she needs to do so.

AMA 2020 | With Cecelia Rhoden | (Berea): $3,678 to provide women a 4-day, beginner-level workshop that will produce completed decorative embroidered pieces that empower their creator. To speak their minds through embroidery is a proclamation that they care not if they are judged or challenged, a stride in confidence and empowerment many women don’t see until later in life.