Visual Arts alum Jeffrey Meris '19 has been awarded a 2025 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Visual Arts from the Vilcek Foundation. The $50,000 prize recognizes immigrant artists, curators, and scientists.
Meris was recognized for his body of work engaging materiality, installation, and performance. Born in Haiti, he grew up in the Bahamas, where he began his artistic practice. Meris completed his BFA in sculpture at the Tyler School of Art before earning his MFA at Columbia University.
The Vilcek Foundation awards the Prizes for Creative Promise to support emerging to mid-career immigrant professionals who have demonstrated exceptional achievements early in their careers.
This year, the foundation has awarded a total of $250,000 in prizes to visual artists and curators, with Meris being one of three recipients of the Creative Promise prize alongside Selva Aparicio and Felipe Baeza. The winners will be honored at a ceremony in New York City in spring 2025.
"It's a beautiful experience being recognized by the Vilcek Foundation," Meris said. "I've lived in America for the greater part of 12 years. I immigrated from the Bahamas knowing that New York City is the Mecca of visual art culture. Throughout my journey here both academic, professional and personal, I've met some of the greatest makers of our time, many of us immigrants. Recognizing the foreign, the other, the immigrant is important specifically in these divisive times.
"What a deep honor it is to be lifted up in this way and be seen," he added. "Thank you to those friends, colleagues and mentors who have my back when I come knocking for a kind word or two."
Meris has been the recipient of residencies and fellowships including the Pollock Krasner Grant (2023), a Studio Museum in Harlem Artist Residency (2022), and the Artadia NY Award (2022). His pieces are held in permanent collections including the Pérez Art Museum Miami and The Central Bank of The Bahamas. His group exhibitions include And Ever an Edge at the Studio Museum in Harlem in collaboration with MoMA PS1, and Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art at the Aldrich Contemporary Museum of Art. He was also one of the featured artists in Prospect 6: the future is present, the harbinger is home, the New Orleans triennial exhibition.
