UW–Madison alumna Dyani White Hawk, an award-winning, multidisciplinary visual artist and independent curator, is the recipient of a prestigious 2023 MacArthur Fellowship.

The MacArthur Fellowships, often referred to as “genius grants,” include a stipend of $800,000 to the recipient. Fellows are selected by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and are awarded to talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in, and dedication to, their creative pursuits.

The announcement of the 2023 MacArthur Fellows came today, with this web page highlighting White Hawk’s work and explaining how she is being recognized for “illuminating the enduring strength, presence, and influence of Indigenous artistic practices within modern and contemporary art.”

White Hawk, who received her master of fine arts degree from the School of Education’s Art Department in 2011, is further described on the MacArthur Fellows website as  a “multidisciplinary artist revealing the underrecognized yet enduring influence of Indigenous aesthetics on modern and contemporary art. In both her finished objects and art-making process, White Hawk … centers ideas of connectedness — within community and family, across generations, and between craft and fine art.”

A woman of Sičangu Lakota and European-American ancestry, White Hawk was raised within Native and urban American communities.