Monica Ikegwu, Open / Close (Diptych), 2021, Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches each, Courtesy of Dr. Myrtis Bedolla and Alex Hyman Collection
Making America Again: So Strong, So Brave, So True, featuring GRAY artist Candida Alvarez, is on view at the Maryland Institute College of Art through September 29, 2026.
Inspired by a 1935 poem by Langston Hughes, the exhibition title speaks to the artists’ roles as both predecessors and continuing forces in the art world. Making America Again brings together a representative cohort of Ford/Philip Morris Foundation Fellows for Artists of Color (1985–1999), whose careers have made a lasting impact on the global art world.
The Ford/Philip Morris initiative supported 200 artists of color in obtaining MFA degrees, providing the education, training, and practical support needed to participate in American art and culture—both within and beyond the mainstream.
The core of this exhibition is work by a select group of Ford/Philip Morris fellows:
Candida Alvarez, Dawoud Bey, Sanford Biggers, Nick Cave, Sonya Clark, Stephanie Dinkins, Espi Frazier, Bill Gaskins, Lyle Ashton Harris, Cynthia Hawkins, Napoleon Jones- Henderson, Joe Lewis, Tom Miller, Joyce Wellman. The installation also includes artists such as Joyce J. Scott, Oletha Devane and Lola Flash who preceded this cohort, as well as artists who came to MICA in the wake of the program such as Jerrell Gibbs, Monica Ikegwu, Jeffrey Kent, Amy Sherald, Shinique Smith, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum and René Treviño.