EMMA BEE BERNSTEIN FELLOWSHIP

Each year, A.I.R. Gallery’s Fellowship Program supports the burgeoning career of six emerging and underrepresented women and non-binary artists. In 2009, A.I.R. named one yearly Fellowship seat in memory of the artist, activist, writer, and feminist Emma Bee Bernstein (1985-2008). In recognition of Emma’s significant contributions as a young artist, the youngest A.I.R. Fellowship recipient receives the honor of holding the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship.

Emma Bee Bernstein, the daughter of A.I.R. artist member Susan Bee and poet Charles Bernstein, passed away at the age of 23, leaving behind a collection of photos and film that she defined as “fantasies of self-presentation.” Phong Bui, who curated exhibitions of her work in 2011 and 2012, writes: “Emma’s work is luminescent. She trusts in the image being a truthful record of what your emotional or intellectual life is. It’s remarkably visceral, vulnerable, and generous at the same time.” Her work was shown at the 2019 Venice Biennale in the exhibition Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale that Society has the Capacity to Destroy, co-curated by Phong Bui and Francesca Pietropaolo. As an artist who centered her practice around representing herself and other young women, her work was very much in line with the mission of A.I.R. We hope to continue Emma’s legacy through our Fellowship Program by supporting young women and non-binary artists at the early stages of their careers when they need it most.

The A.I.R. Fellowship Program was established in 1993 by former artist member Stephanie Bernheim in order to further extend our mission of care and support. In the last 31 years, more than 110 artists have had the opportunity to present their first solo exhibition in New York City with the support of the A.I.R. community.

The cost of each Fellowship seat is $17,000 per year and is only partially funded by government grants. Your individual contribution to the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship makes a significant impact on the continuity of this program. The support of our community has meant so much to A.I.R. and it's because of generous gifts from donors that we are able to provide this much-needed career-changing opportunity for women and non-binary artists. Your tax-exempt donation to the Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship Fund will gift emerging women artists with an invaluable opportunity for professional development and visibility, and will enable A.I.R. to continue advocating for women and non-binary individuals in the arts.

The 15th Emma Bee Bernstein Fellow is 2023–2024 Fellow Funto Omojola. Nigerian-American poet, performer, and visual artist based in New York. They are a 2022-2023 Emerge-Surface-Be Fellow with the Poetry Project, a Cave Canem Fellow, and a 2023-2024 A.I.R Fellow. Funto holds an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and is the founding editor of ẹwà journal, an online literary journal that publishes work exclusively by immigrant writers. Their first book, components of a child’s destiny & there’s a party in the canopy & i make an oil painting of a bribe, is forthcoming from Nightboat Books in 2024.

Please join us in honoring Emma Bee Bernstein by sending us your contribution towards the fellowship at www.airgallery.org/donate or mailing a check to A.I.R. Gallery, Attn.: Emma Bee Bernstein Fellowship, 155 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

A.I.R. Gallery is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Donations are fully tax-deductible and donors are acknowledged on all Fellowship Program materials.

Emma Bee Bernstein, self-portrait from "Untitled (Unique Color Polaroids)," 2003 - 2007, Color Polaroid, 4 × 3.5 inches.

Learn more about Emma Bee Bernstein here.
Learn more about 2023–2024 fellow Funto Omojola here.

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