Christina West is one of 24 UW–Madison faculty winners of the 2024-25 Vilas Associates Competition, which recognizes “new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance.” Both assistant professors and tenured faculty within 20 years of their tenure are eligible for this award.

West joined the School of Education’s Art Department in 2022 as an assistant professor specializing in sculpting and installation. Her research focuses on the inherent mystery of others’ interiority and the human figure as an endlessly captivating subject for sculpture, video, and installations. Her work is rooted in figuration to understand and connect with others, informed by contemporary art criticism and social theory about the gaze to question the dynamics of politics that complicate the act of looking.

West is currently preparing for a solo exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California.