News/Research

Alum Trevor Paglen Named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow

12 Oct, 2017

Alum Trevor Paglen Named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow

BCNM alum and Geography PhD graduate Trevor Paglen was named one of 2017's MacArthur "genuis" grant recipients for his work documenting the hidden operations of covert government projects and examining the ways that human rights are threatened in an era of mass surveillance.

The MacArthur Fellows program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. The Fellowship offers a $625,000, no-strings-attached award as an investment in recipients' potential.

Trevor joins two additional UC Berkeley affiliates as Genius grant recipients: Yuval Sharon and Viet Nguyen.

From the MacArthur website:

Trevor Paglen is a conceptual artist and geographer making the invisible operations of military and corporate power visible to everyday citizens. He draws on his training as a geographer and utilizes the tools of image-making, coupled with painstaking review of public records and declassified documents, to explore infrastructures of warfare, surveillance, and social control that are generally hidden from the general public. The resulting images, sculptural works, and writings he produces examine the ways that human rights are threatened in an era of mass surveillance and data collection.