Rutgers University’s Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice (ISGRJ) has named Music student Brandon Mejia a Quilting Water Undergraduate Prize winner.
Mejia, with majors in jazz performance and information technology, is one of six Rutgers artists to receive the invitation to join Quilting Water, an international public art initiative that seeks to prompt artists and scholars to consider the relationship between ecological justice and racial justice. Thus far, the initiative has established a rich archive of interviews—primarily with racialized communities—from, among other places, South Africa, Japan, Puerto Rico, Belgium, and the Philippines. These water stories are subsequently made available to local Black artists who design and construct quilts inspired by the archive.
As part of the initiative, Mejia and his cohort will conduct interviews and produce a culminating project under the mentorship of artist R.A. Villanueva.
“As a musician, fostering social change in my community has become something really important to me,” Mejia says. “I sought to participate in Quilting Water because I was fascinated with the idea of joining and learning from other artists for meaningful collaboration in an interdisciplinary approach.”
Read more about Mejia, his cohort, and The Quilting Water Public Arts Project on the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice’s website.