The MacArthur Foundation has named its 2026 class of fellows, and four visual artists lead the pack among the 20 winners: Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas. Each takes home an unrestricted award of $800,000, paid out in quarterly installments over five years.
The foundation describes the fellowship as a no-strings-attached grant for people who show exceptional creativity in their work and promise for more to come. Nominees are put forward by outside parties, and winners are picked by an independent committee. Since 1981, the foundation has awarded 1,195 fellowships across fields including art history, visual culture, writing, health policy, anthropological research, musical performance, and entrepreneurship.
Kim’s Sound Work Across Languages
Christine Sun Kim works in Berlin and builds billboards, murals, and performances, plus a wide range of multimedia pieces. She is Deaf and often moves between American Sign Language and American English in her work. The video “Palm Reader” (2020) animates signs for words tied to authority, like “state” and “rule.”
Kim’s practice looks at the political side of communication. Her work asks what gets lost when sound and language are treated as the main way to share meaning.
McMillian’s Quilted Pieces
Los Angeles-based artist Rodney McMillian draws on secondhand quilts, thrifted household goods, and a cast-iron piggy bank. He recently returned to his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, for his 2026 exhibition A Son of the Soil at the Columbia Museum of Art.
There, he documented his ongoing search for ways to address racial and economic injustice through art. The show ties his personal history to his broader project of looking at the American South.
Valdez’s Large-Scale Portraits
Vincent Valdez works out of Houston and blends Chicano art traditions with narrative painting techniques. His work often comes in large, nearly mural-sized scale, forcing viewers to face the injustice, inequality, and stereotypes faced by his subjects.
One standout piece is “So Long, Mary Ann” (2019), an eight-foot-tall painting of a tattooed man with his hands clasped. Valdez gives the portrait empathy and dignity.
Thomas’s Mural Project
Chip Thomas’s artistic career crossed with his work as a primary care doctor for the Navajo Nation, where he retired in 2023. With the Diné People, he has built murals and placed black-and-white photography into structures on Navajo land.
He also founded the Painted Desert Project (2012–22), which brought public artists together with local communities through mural contributions.
The Other Winners
The full list runs long, and the other artists bring their own fields into play:
- Layli Long Soldier, poet
- Bryan Washington, fiction writer
- Trajal Harrell, dancer and choreographer
- Immanuel Wilkins, saxophonist and composer
- Holly Jean Buck
- Felipe De Brigard
- Ellora Derenoncourt
- Elizabeth Ellis
- Kaiyu Guan
- Song Lin
- Maaza Mengiste
- Ariel Ron
- Kate Spradley
- Vincenzo Vitelli
- Liangfang Zhang
The foundation has made a habit of mixing disciplines heavily. This year’s class includes poets, writers, dancers, musicians, and scholars alongside the visual artists.
The Money and What This Class Shows
The $800,000 award arrives in quarterly payments over five years. There are no conditions attached. The foundation trusts the winners to use the money as they see fit.
| Award | Amount | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| MacArthur Fellowship | $800,000 | Unrestricted, paid quarterly over five years |
The foundation’s record since 1981 shows a steady stream of support across many fields. This year’s class continues that pattern.
The four artists named first are a striking group. Kim brings a Deaf perspective to sound and language. McMillian turns thrift store finds into social commentary. Valdez faces the history of Chicano experience head-on. Thomas pairs medical work with community-led art projects.
Each of these practices is distinct. None of them fits neatly into a single category. That variety is part of what makes the MacArthur program stand out.
The foundation has said it looks for people whose work is exceptional now and who show promise for more ahead. Their practices are established and their reach keeps growing.
A Legacy of Support
The foundation’s approach is consistent. It puts forward candidates from outside, then picks winners by an independent committee. The result is a group of people whose work stands apart.
The foundation has said it looks for people whose work is exceptional now and who show promise for more ahead. Their practices are established and their reach keeps growing.
The MacArthur Fellowship is a vote of confidence in creative work. It says that imagination matters, and that the people who produce it deserve room to keep pushing forward.
Source material: “Four Artists Win MacArthur “Genius” Grants,” Hyperallergic.
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