Exceptional individuals: Meet New Mexico's two 2025 Guggenheim recipients
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Among the 198 recipients of prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships this year are two notable New Mexicans: playwright and director Erik Ehn and photographer Shoshannah White.
Now in its 100th year, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded over $400 million in fellowships since the grant program began in 1925. Past winners have included such luminaries as Langston Hughes, Martha Graham, Ansel Adams, Alice Walker, Allen Ginsberg and Vladimir Nabokov.
Ehn and White spoke to the Journal about their work and what it means to be a Guggenheim Fellow.
Erik Ehn
鈥淚 was disquieted, to be honest,鈥� Ehn said of his Guggenheim win. 鈥淎t first, I felt like the wrong person 鈥� that they mistook me for somebody else. So, I went through a round or two of notes, giving them a chance to back out.鈥�
Eventually, the Guggenheim Foundation was able to convince the playwright and director that he was, indeed, the intended recipient of the award.
鈥淭hen, the discombobulation was internal. But this moment 鈥� in my life, in the swim of the arts 鈥� wants forward motion. So, for better or for worse, it鈥檚 time to get going and make more work.鈥�
Ehn, who teaches theater at the University of New Mexico, said the fellowship helped him see himself in the context of other contemporary writers and artists he admires.
鈥淭he immediate reward of the fellowship is fellowship 鈥� the sense that one is part of a small but particular wave 鈥� a cohort of really remarkable artists,鈥� he said.
Much of Ehn鈥檚 past work has focused on genocide, which he said demands a poetic approach to playwriting.
鈥淲riting about genocide, deep trauma, the metastasis of disorder wants poetry,鈥� he said. 鈥淓specially poetry鈥檚 embodiment in time and space鈥� where the inconceivable and unspeakable can somehow vibrate in a space between concepts and words.鈥�
But one of Ehn鈥檚 favorite projects was his stage adaptation of Samuel Beckett鈥檚 novella, 鈥淚ll Seen Ill Said.鈥�
鈥淟ike so much of Beckett, the text deals with not quite having enough cognitive material to cover the pain, shame and ridiculousness of life,鈥� Ehn said.
He directed the performer Shannon Hartman, whom he called 鈥渁n excellent mover,鈥� in an experimental staging of Beckett鈥檚 text. He said her physical actions and gestures became 鈥渁 kind of movement midrash,鈥� or interpretive commentary, on the text.
In light of the recent gutting of federal funding for the arts and humanities, Ehn said the Guggenheim Fellowship will help sustain his ongoing theatrical projects, which may have otherwise been thrown into limbo.
鈥淭he field is rocked and wounded by the cuts to the (National Endowment for the Humanities) and the (National Endowment for the Arts),鈥� Ehn said. 鈥淭hese dollars will facilitate ongoing dialogue with the artistic team I鈥檝e been rehearsing with for months. We鈥檙e building a dance/theater piece involving flamenco and modern performers.鈥�
鈥淭he material is about the precarity of our relationships with the natural world, looking at the world from the point of view of liminal and fictional creatures (such as) zombies, Godzilla (and) angels,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be performing it in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 in June, then taking work to La MaMa (in New York City) in October 2025. Couldn鈥檛 do it without the Guggenheim.鈥�
Shoshannah White
Roswell-based photographer Shoshannah White was nearly as stunned by her Guggenheim win as Ehn was.
鈥淚t still feels surreal,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t just still doesn鈥檛 feel like it鈥檚 quite landed, but I feel incredibly grateful. It鈥檚 such an amazing honor.鈥�
White takes an experimental approach to photography, often combining photography with other media, such as painting and sculpture.
鈥淭he work usually has an environmental theme, or is informed by science or nature,鈥� White said. 鈥淚鈥檓 interested in the psychological relationship we have with the natural world 鈥� the connection and disconnection.鈥�
Increasingly focused on 鈥渞adically shifting environments,鈥� White recently traveled to Alaska to make a series of painterly photograms using ice collected from glaciers.
鈥淚 put the ice on the photographic paper, making prints directly from the ice,鈥� she explained.
Working at the National Science Foundation, Ice Core facility, sometimes the ice core samples contain volcanic ash and silt from prehistoric times.
鈥淚鈥檓 really interested in this natural archive that鈥檚 held in place by temperature,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 even more interested in the interpretations that you can make by looking at these images. They look like doorways or portals into other worlds.鈥�
Some of White鈥檚 work has focused on the environment of New Mexico, including a series in which she used magnets to activate sand from the Rio Grande.
White shows her work at the Richard Levy Gallery in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and at art galleries and museums around the world. As is the case for many artists, though, sales have not always been consistent. But she said she considers herself fortunate just to be able to do what she loves.
鈥淚 think success can be defined in a lot of different ways, and I鈥檝e been able to continue making my art for a long time, which I feel really lucky about,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd to work with different institutions and scientists 鈥� to be invited to go up to the National Science Foundation and work with scientists like that 鈥� just feels like such an incredible honor and a gift.鈥�
Born in New York, White said she lived in Maine for close to three decades before coming to Roswell six years ago.
鈥淚 feel like Maine and New Mexico are so different, but maybe they draw a similar personality who鈥檚 interested in that kind of wild, rugged environment,鈥� she said.
White鈥檚 love of wilderness areas has allowed her to feel at home in remote, glacial environments, too. And while she鈥檚 still considering her options for future projects, she said the Guggenheim grant has expanded the scope of possibilities.
鈥淚t鈥檚 given me a tremendous freedom to be exploratory,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think I鈥檒l continue making the work that I鈥檝e been making, but it allows me to push it further 鈥� to make work that鈥檚 larger, or to travel to different destinations to make work that I wouldn鈥檛 necessarily be able to do otherwise. It鈥檚 just an incredible gift to have that freedom.鈥�
