Artadia announced today that ​artists Adriana Corral, who is known for her installations, performances, and sculptures, which embody themes of loss, memory, and unwritten historical narratives, and Vincent Valdez, whose drawings and paintings often convey stories from marginalized communities across Texas, have won its Houston Artadia Awards and will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds.

Selected from a pool of over 130 applicants, Corral and Valdez were chosen by a jury comprising Stephanie Baptist, Rachel Cook, and Irene Mei Zi Shum—Tyler Blackwell joined Mei Zi Shum for the second round of studio visits and evaluations. In a joint statement, Blackwell and Mei Zi Shum said that the artists’ “compelling rigorous practices probe the difficult issues of our time with sophistication and ambition.”

The national nonprofit also revealed that Betirri Bengtson​, ​Gao Hang, ​Veronica Ibargüengoitia, Valentina Jager, ​and ​Ling-lin Ku​ have been selected as the recipients of its second annual Houston Artadia Fellowship for Immigrant Artists, which was launched in 2018 as an extension of Artadia’s award program. Applications were accepted from any visual artists who were born outside of the United States and who are currently living in the Greater Houston area. The fellows will receive $2,500 in unrestricted funds and will each be paired with an artist advisor, a former Houston-based Artadia Award winner. The program will conclude with an exhibition of the artists’ work, which will be staged at the Lawndale Art Center.