The Vilcek Foundation announces the recipients of the 2025 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Visual Arts. Totaling $250,000 in awards, the prizes are part of how the foundation pursues its mission: to build awareness of the vital role immigration plays in enriching the arts, culture, and society, and to foster appreciation for the arts and sciences more broadly. 

Art is a means of addressing and processing complex social issues. Visual art can serve as a powerful tool for both the artist and the viewer: Art sparks dialogue, bridging language and cultural barriers. Each of the recipients of the 2025 Vilcek Prizes in Visual Arts creates work that deals with the things that make us most human: life and death, desire and belonging, and the intersection of the personal and the political. 

The 2025 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Visual Arts are awarded to:

• Guadalupe Maravilla (b. El Salvador)
• Selva Aparicio (b. Spain)
• Felipe Baeza (b. Mexico)
• Jeffrey Meris (b. Haiti)

The Vilcek Prize in Visual Arts

The Vilcek Prize in Visual Arts is awarded in recognition of artistic excellence in practice and in the presentation of powerful and original works. The honor—which includes a cash award of $100,000 and a commemorative trophy—is bestowed on an artist whose work has a profound impact not only on the arts, but on culture and discourse more broadly. The Vilcek Foundation is delighted to award the 2025 Vilcek Prize in Visual Arts to Guadalupe Maravilla.  

Guadalupe Maravilla

Born in El Salvador, Maravilla came to the United States in 1984 as an undocumented unaccompanied child at the age of 8. He receives the Vilcek Prize in Visual Arts for his sculptures, installations, and performances that combine symbol, sound, and ritual. Maravilla’s practice focuses on the power of art to heal and transform both the creator and the viewer. His immersive and evocative works explore concepts of migration, transcendence, and the human condition. 

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Visual Arts

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Visual Arts are awarded to young immigrant artists whose work demonstrates exceptional creativity and outstanding potential. Immigrant artists under the age of 40 working in painting, ceramics, sculpture, installation, drawing, printmaking, and fiber arts were eligible to apply for one of three prizes. Prizewinners each receive an unrestricted cash award of $50,000, and a commemorative trophy. The Vilcek Foundation is thrilled to award the 2025 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Visual Arts to Selva Aparicio, Felipe Baeza, and Jeffrey Meris. 

Selva Aparicio

Selva Aparicio receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Visual Arts for her sculptures and installations, which incorporate organic materials and ritualistic imagery to explore themes of death, mourning, memory, and temporality. Born in Barcelona, Spain, she studied at the Escola Massana, where she earned a Superior Technician in Plastic Arts and Design in Sculptural Techniques degree, and earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from the Yale University School of Art. 

Felipe Baeza

Felipe Baeza receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Visual Arts for his studio practice and his poetic visual style that engages multiple mediums and traditions to explore spirituality, otherness, and regeneration. Born in Mexico and based in the United States, Baeza’s work is informed by his experiences as an adolescent, navigating the structures and institutions that often marginalize those they purport to protect. Baeza earned his BFA from the Cooper Union and holds an MFA from Yale University.

Jeffrey Meris

Jeffrey Meris receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Visual Arts for his body of work engaging materiality, installation, and performance to explore the power of ecology and embodiment to liberate and heal from individual and historical trauma. 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, and earned his MFA at Columbia University.