congrats Rashayla!

World Less Traveled Grant
2012–13 Recipients

We are very pleased to announce the winners of the World Less Traveled Grant for this academic year!

Marion Parry, a friend of SAIC, has endowed a travel and research grant named the World Less Traveled to provide funds for thesis research, conference attendance, travel for exhibitions, and self-initiated study trips available to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Out of more than 40 exceptional applications that we received this year, the jury has chosen to award four grants to the following students:

Rashayla Brown (BFA, Photography) will travel to Los Angeles to create a series of conceptual portraits that document and challenge the representation of black women in reality TV. In particular, Brown will focus on Sharhonda Stockman and her friends, women with philanthropic and socialite lifestyles tied to the entertainment industry.

Elizabeth Ensz (MFA, Fiber and Material Studies) will travel to Los Angeles where she will realize two projects based on the idea of a "post-petroleum" world. The first is to experience the daily commutes of friends and contacts on foot instead of by car. The second is to examine elements of the LA freeway as examples of landscape.

Robyn Farrell (MA, Art History) will travel to Germany to research the projects of Gerry Schum, who broadcast the first television transmission of contemporary art in 1969. Farrell's thesis focuses on Schum's Fernsehgalerie (TV Gallery, 1969-70) and Videogalerie Schum (Video Gallery, 1970-71). While these projects have had a significant influence on media art, there is little existing in-depth scholarship on them.

Kathryn Taylor (MArch, AIADO) will travel to the Rewa River in Guyana to collaborate with Dr. Lesley de Souza, a biologist at the Shedd Aquarium. Taylor and Dr. de Souza are designing a fishing lodge that will help support the local economy and wildlife. The lodge, to be built later this year, will also function as a research lab and education center.

Congratulations to Rashayla, Elizabeth, Robyn, and Kathryn!