Keisha Scarville Awarded Brooklyn Museum’s $25,000 UOVO Prize
6March 14, 2026
TheBrooklyn Museumhas announcedKeisha Scarvilleas the winner of its sixthUOVO Prize. Scarville, who investigates themes of migration, memory, loss, and absence through a practice encompassing photography, collage, and archival material, will receive an unrestricted $25,000 cash grant as well as a public exhibition at the museum’s Iris Cantor Plaza, and a commission to create a large-scale work on the façade of UOVO’s art-storage facility, located in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.
Born in Brooklyn to Guyanese immigrant parents, Scarville makes work that reflects her lived experience as a person of Caribbean heritage in the borough. Her show at the Iris Cantor Plaza is being curated by Pauline Vermare will feature vinyl reproductions of black-and-white photographs from the artist’s series “Mama’s Clothes,” for which she posed wearing textiles and garments belonging to her late mother, Alma. Titled “Where Salt Meets Black Water,” in reference to the dark creeks of her parents’ home country, the exhibition will open on May 8.
“As a Brooklyn native, I am deeply honored to be this year’s recipient of the UOVO Prize,” said Scarville in a statement. “My images, inspired by my Caribbean heritage, occupy a space between two lands. I look forward to realizing this installation at the Brooklyn Museum, a cultural cornerstone of New York City. This prize represents a dream fulfilled and brings me great joy to celebrate the Caribbean diaspora in Brooklyn.”
The UOVO prize was inaugurated in 2019 to honor the work of emerging Brooklyn artists. Past winners include John Edmonds, Melissa Joseph, Baseera Khan, Suneil Sanzgiri, and Oscar yi Hou.
“We’re delighted to continue our partnership with UOVO through the sixth annual UOVO Prize, an award that reflects our longstanding mission to champion Brooklyn artists,” said Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak in a statement. “It’s an honor to present Keisha Scarville’s work on our plaza, a tribute to the Caribbean community whose creativity, traditions, and histories have profoundly shaped Brooklyn’s cultural life.”