Javier Téllez, a New York–based artist who spent three decades making films and installations about the people society overlooks, has won the Pérez Art Museum Miami's annual prize: $50,000 with no strings attached.
The award recognizes work that cuts across film, collage, and installation—pieces that often center immigrants, people with disabilities, and others pushed to the edges of visibility. His recent film Amerika (2024) weaves together cinema history, vaudeville, and reenactment to respond to the displacement of more than seven million Venezuelans, including roughly 60,000 who have resettled in New York.
"Because of my personal experience I have always been especially aware of the proximity of the other and the ethical responsibility that comes with it," Téllez told ARTnews. Born in Venezuela to a Spanish immigrant, he's spent his career collaborating directly with disenfranchised communities—not speaking for them, but creating space for their stories to reshape how power works and what "normal" means.
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Start Your News DetoxThe prize comes at a moment when that work feels increasingly necessary. Museum director Franklin Sirmans noted that Téllez uses "wit, humor, and imagination" to challenge rigid hierarchies and build empathy. It's not abstract moralizing—it's art that asks viewers to actually see people they've been trained to ignore.
Téllez's exhibitions have traveled from the Guggenheim Bilbao to the Whitney Biennial, from Documenta 13 to the Venice Biennale. But the $50,000 grant matters differently than prestige. It's a direct investment in continuing this work—and in the visibility that comes with institutional backing.
Jorge Pérez, whose family foundation endows the prize, framed it as an example of how private philanthropy can drive "lasting social and cultural change." That language can feel hollow in art-world press releases. But in this case, it points to something real: money flowing toward an artist whose entire practice is built on asking who gets to be seen, and why.
