A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
Through April 3, Georgetown University’s Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Art Gallery is exhibiting work by photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode who attended Pratt from 1980 to 82. Influenced by fellow Pratt alumnus Robert Mapplethorpe, he created stylized portraits of Black men before his death at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Associate Professor of Sculpture and Integrated Practices Cassils received an eight-page portfolio review of their durational performance Undersight in the latest issue of Artforum. Cassils writes, “My work suggests that trans rights must be linked with all of our other political movements. My wish is for my work to be part of a continuum of cultural production created by disenfranchised communities who work in solidarity to liberate ourselves from systems and regimes that deny us our humanity. My hope is that art can be a part of the struggle for justice everywhere that people are fighting to live, heal, and have their humanity honoured amidst violent conditions. I strive for liberation, compassion and for a world that insists upon both gentleness and justice.”
Game Design students Nai’im Muhammad and Fides Wong, both AOS Game Design and Interactive Media ’26, had the opportunity to showcase their projects at Game-A-Palooza 2025, a first-of-its-kind NYC games showcase held by IGDA and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment. Accompanied by Visiting Instructor of Associate Degrees Laura Reyes Arias, the students’ games were play-tested by fellow developers and members of the general public who provided valuable feedback on various elements of the games.
Chief Librarian at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University Christina Vortia, MSLIS ’15, was interviewed for Fine Books magazine’s Bright Young Librarians series. “One of the most beautiful aspects of this role is connecting these books, which I see as ancestors, to their descendants. It is deeply moving and spiritual work,” she said.
Pratt Center was named among the recipients of the first-ever NYC Nightlife Grant, provided by the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS). “The New York City Office of Nightlife is proud to award the first-ever NYC Nightlife Grants to nonprofits whose initiatives support safer, more inclusive, and sustainable nightlife businesses and communities,” said ONL Executive Director Jeff Garcia. “We are excited to see these ideas come to life across the city, helping New York City remain the world’s nightlife capital.”
Trey Phillips, BFA Communications Design ’27, was named the Atlantic East Conference’s Men’s Basketball Player of the Week following a 19 point and 15 rebound performance against neighborhood rival St. Joseph’s on Nov. 22. The men’s basketball team has surged to an early 5-2 record.
Merve Kayan and Sasha Sumner, both adjunct assistant professors of Film/Video, received 2025 New York State Council on the Arts grants for work on films. Kayan was awarded the grant for her film Baby Gates, and Sumner received it for her film Ripple.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Yasmeen Abdallah, MFA Fine Arts ’15, reviewed “I Find Rest” by V Walton and “Sarsabzi” by Misha Japanwala at Hannah Traore Gallery in Hot Coffee Conversations.
Dakota Billops-Breaux, MS Urban Placemaking and Management ’26; Jen Hung, MS Sustainable Environmental Systems and an Advanced Certificate in Historic Preservation ’26; and Wayne Mok, MS Urban and Community Planning ’26, are among the 2025-2026 Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD) Community Development Graduate Fellowship cohort.
Sofi Thanhauser, adjunct associate professor – CCE of Writing, explores the history of the “war on cancer” in an essay for the Virginia Quarterly Review. “Buried beneath this evergreen drama of illness and cure, the promise of miracle biotech breakthroughs and heroic survivorship, is the story of how American business interests helped to steer politicians away from stopping the cancer epidemic at the source; how they helped to generate a mania for curing the disease and obstructed the analytic and moral clarity required to prevent it. Actually preventing cancer—far preferable to curing it, if less interesting—would mean asking why our cancer rates are so high in the first place.”
From Pratt Institute News
From Pratt Institute News
