The Rabkin Interviews

America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) is an arts writer, visual artist, independent curator, and publishing editor of First American Art Magazine. She is a winner of a 2025 Rabkin Prize. You can read her full bio at our website.

We invited America to have a conversation about her work. The interview is accompanied by a newly commissioned portrait of America in the backyard space where she sometimes writes, alongside her dogs, Terin and Rosie.

The interview has been gently edited for length and clarity.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Southeastern Indian Artists Association

* The Coe Center

* Cherokee Heritage Center, Park Hill, Okla.

* Center for the American Indian, (1978), Oklahoma City, Okla.

* Institute of American Indian Arts

* William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.

* Artist T.C. Cannon

* Artist Kelly Church

* Artist Teri Greeves

* Right After by Eva Hesse

* Composer John Cage

* Artist Robert Rauschenberg

* Shingle Springs Rancheria, Calif.

* Illiterate Digest by Will Rogers (A&C Boni, 1924)

* Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and about Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging (Brush Education, 2025)

* Track Changes: A Handbook for Art Criticism Edited by Mira Dayal and Josephine Heston (n+1, Literary Hub, and Burnaway, 2023)

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The interview was conducted by Mary Louise Schumacher, a journalist and the executive director of the Rabkin Foundation. The portraits were made by artist-photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews also includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer; Johnathon Olsen, editor; with research and copyediting by Katie Avila Loughmiller and Karen Samelson. Music is by Flint, HaHaHa, Just for Kicks, and Jim Swim. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Tempestt Hazel is a curator, writer, and co-founder of Sixty Inches From Center, a publishing platform and archival project focusing on the Midwest. She is a winner of a 2025 Rabkin Prize. You can read her full bio at our website.

We invited Tempestt to have a conversation about her work. The interview is accompanied by a newly commissioned portrait of Tempestt in her Chicago living room, where she often writes, with her dog, Humphrey.

The interview has been gently edited for length and clarity.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Sixty Inches From Center

* Margaret Burroughs

* Noah Davis exhibit, Hammer Museum (2025)

* Midwest Arts Writers Convening

* Luz Magdaleno Flores

* Christina Nafziger

* Nadia John

* Chicago Reader

* Performance Response Journal

* Newcity

* Chicago Artist Writers

* AirGo Radio

* The Triibe

* South Side Weekly

* Contratiempo

* Lumpen Magazine

* Pigment International

* The Space in Which to Place Me exhibit by Jeffrey Gibson (2025), The Broad Museum

* “Thick: They say you are what you eat. Does how you eat what you eat matter too?” by Corey Smith, Rachel Lindsay (Sixty Inches from Center, May 2025)

* Artist A.J. McClenon

* David Hammons. Concerto in Black and Blue exhibit by David Hammons (Hauser & Wirth, February 2025)

* “A New David Hammons Book Will Challenge You, Scold You, Flirt with You” by TK Smith (Art in America, May 2025)

* Writer Hilton Als

* Chicago’s Critic Table

* Adrienne Brown

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The interview was conducted by Mary Louise Schumacher, a journalist and the executive director of the Rabkin Foundation. The portraits were made by artist-photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews also includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer; Johnathon Olsen, editor; with research and copyediting by Katie Avila Loughmiller and Karen Samelson. Music is by Flint, HaHaHa, Ariel Shalom, and Just for Kicks. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

J Wortham is a sound healer, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, author of a forthcoming nonfiction collection “Work of Body,” and a 2025 Rabkin Prize winner. You can read their full bio at our website.

We invited J to have a conversation about their work. The interview is accompanied by a newly commissioned portrait of J in their home office in New York featuring an art piece by Alisha B Wormsley.

The interview has been gently edited for length and clarity.

Mentioned in this episode:

* Black Futures edited by J Wortham and curator Kimberly Drew (One World, January 2020)

* Still Processing podcast

* “In Defense of the Traditional Review” by Richard Brody (The New Yorker, July 2025)

* “For ‘Purpose’ Cast, Navigating Revisions Became a ‘Juggling Act’ ” by Salamishah Tillet (The New York Times, June 2025)

* TikTok Queer Ultimatum Season 2 review by J Wortham

* Channeling, J Wortham’s Substack newsletter

* Writer Rebecca Solnit

* Hilton Als’ Instagram account

* Hanif Abdurraqib’s Instagram account

* Sculptor Simone Leigh

* Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 2023)

* “ ‘I will Never Forget Any of It’: Brittney Griner Is Ready to Talk” by J Wortham (The New York Times Magazine, May 2024)

* “The Artist Upending Photography’s Brutal Racial History” by J Wortham (The New York Times Magazine, May 2021)

* “The Lives They Led: Wafa Al-Udaini” by J Wortham (The New York Times Magazine, 2024)

* Stars and Stars with Isa podcast

* Writer Colleen Kinder

* Dear Lord, Make me Beautiful by Kyle Abraham

* Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies at the Brooklyn Museum (2024)

* ha ha ha ha ha ha ha by Julia Masli

* Black Quantum Futurism books

* The Lightning Field by Walter D. Maria

* Roden Crater by James Turrell

* The Star Axis by Charles Ross

* Storm King Wavefield by Maya Lin

* Sun Tunnels by Nancy Holt

* Native American mounds in Madison and Dane County, Wis.

* Jupiter Magazine

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The interview was conducted by Mary Louise Schumacher, a journalist and the eExecutive dDirector of the Rabkin Foundation. The portraits were made by artist-photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews also includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer; Johnathon Olsen, editor; with research and copyediting by Katie Avila Loughmiller and Karen Samelson. Music is by Flint, HaHaHa, Ben Hendler and Loya. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche Nation) is an author, essayist, and curator, and until recently a longtime curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. He is returning to arts writing and working on an anthology of essays. He is a winner of a 2025 Rabkin Prize. You can read his full bio at our website.

We invited Paul to have a conversation about his work. The interview is accompanied by a newly commissioned portrait of Paul in his home office, where the family cat, Ms. Tina Turner, lounges at his feet.

The interview has been gently edited for length and clarity.

Mentioned in this episode:

* American Indian Movement

* National Museum of the American Indian

* Americans exhibit, Smithsonian Institute, (2017)

* National Gallery of Art

* Hirshhorn Museum

* Writer Christopher Hitchens

* Officially Indian: Symbols that Define the United States by Cécile R. Ganteaume (National Museum of the American Indian, 2017)

* “Amy Sherald Cancels Smithsonian Show Over Censorship” by Robin Pogrebin (The New York Times, July 2025 )

* Total Eclipse, Dallas, Texas, 2024

* Total Eclipse in Paducah, Ky,, 2017

* The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture exhibit, Smithsonian American Art Museum (2025)

* Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson (Straight Arrow Books, 1973)

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The interview was conducted by Mary Louise Schumacher, a journalist and the executive director of the Rabkin Foundation. The portraits were made by artist-photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews also includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer; Johnathon Olsen, editor; with research and copyediting by Katie Avila Loughmiller and Karen Samelson. Music is by Flint, HaHaHa and Aves. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Jessica Lynne is a writer, art critic, podcaster, editor, and co-founder of ARTS.BLACK, a journal of art criticism that centers Black perspectives while engaging the contemporary art world. She is a winner of a 2025 Rabkin Prize. You can read her full bio at our website.

We invited Jessica to have a conversation about her work. The interview is accompanied by a newly commissioned portrait of Jessica in her studio during a residency at ALMA | LEWIS, an art platform for critical thinking, constructive dialogue, and creative expression dedicated to Black cultures in Pittsburgh.

Please note: Jessica is no longer at Momus, a change that occurred after our podcast was produced.

The interview has been gently edited for length and clarity.

Mentioned in this episode:

* ALMA | LEWIS: Artist Residency

* Educator, artist, and architect Amaza Lee Meredith

* Art on My Mind by bell hooks (The New Press, 1995)

* Writer and curator Taylor Aldridge

* Poet June Jordan

* Writer Toni Cade Bambara

* ”Toward a Black Feminist Criticism” by Barbara Smith (Center for Critical Education Inc., 1978)

* Writer Greg Tate

* Writer Joan Morgan

* ARTS.BLACK

* Jupiter Magazine

* Writer Camille Bacon

* Artist Chloe Bass

* Negroland by Margo Jefferson (Pantheon, 2015)

* Constructing a Nervous System by Margo Jefferson (Pantheon, 2022)

* Writer Randall Kenan

* WNBA

* Bisi Silva, founder and curator of Contemporary Art CCA, Lagos, Nigeria

* The Politics of Collecting: Race and the Aestheticization of Property by Eunsong Kim (Duke University Press, 2024)

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The interview was conducted by Mary Louise Schumacher, a journalist and the executive director of the Rabkin Foundation. The portraits were made by artist-photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews also includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer; Johnathon Olsen, editor; with research and copyediting by Katie Avila Loughmiller and Karen Samelson. Music is by Flint, HaHaHa, Ori Kaplan and Jimit. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Cassie Packard is a freelance writer and reviews editor at frieze magazine who is particularly interested in worldbuilding practices and networks, with queerness as a frame and focus.

For the first time in the prize’s history, the Rabkin Foundation commissioned portraits of the winners in the spaces where they write and conducted interviews with them about their lives and ideas. Here is Mary Louise Schumacher, a longtime journalist and the foundation’s new executive director, in conversation with Cassie. It has been gently edited for length and clarity. 

Mentioned in this episode:James JoyceJohn AshberyFrank O’HaraJacques DupinAdrienne RichEmily Dickinson“Sable Elyse Smith’s Opera Inhabits the Storm,” by Cassie Packard (frieze, July 2024)Toni MorrisonRenee GladmanOrdinary Notes by Christina Sharpe (Macmillan, 2023)“Knotted Lives” by Cassie Packard (The Brooklyn Rail, February 2024)Drama 1882 by Wael Shawky at the 2024 Venice Biennale“The Digital Media Experiments of Auriea Harvey” by Cassie Packard (frieze, February 2024)Gamer Theory by McKenzie Wark (Harvard University Press, 2007)Art Rules: How Great Artists Think, Create and Work by Cassie Packard (Frances Lincoln, 2023)“Whose Interests Does AI Serve?” by Cassie Packard (ArtReview, December 2023)“A Common Thread by Rowan Renee” by Cassie Packard (Recess Art, January 2022)The Tarot Garden“AB-EX and Disco Balls: In Defense of Abstract Expressionism II” by Amy Sillman (Artforum, Summer 2011)“In Defense of Abstract Expressionism” by T.J. Clark (October, Summer 1994)HyperallergicCassie Packard at HyperallergicMomusContemporary Art Review Los AngelesJupiter MagazineJessica LynneJarrett Earnest

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer, and Johnathon Olsen, editor. Music is by Ariel Shalom, Flint, Steven Beddall, Nomad Producer, and Just for Kicks. These interviews are accompanied by newly commissioned portraits of these writers made by Kevin J. Miyazaki in the spaces where they work.  

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Thomas Lawson is an artist, educator and writer. For the first time in the prize’s history, the Rabkin Foundation commissioned portraits of the winners in the spaces where they write and conducted interviews with them about their lives and ideas. Here is Mary Louise Schumacher, a longtime journalist and the foundation’s new executive director, in conversation with Thomas. It has been gently edited for length and clarity. 

Mentioned in this episode:The Writing of Fiction by Edith Wharton (Scribner, January 1925)Sayre GomezJack GoldsteinThe Anxiety of Influence by Harold Bloom (Oxford University Press)“The Allegorical Impulse: Toward Theory of Postmodernism by Craig Owens” (October, Spring 1980)East of BorneoSusan MorganREALLIFE magazineMark LewisRosalind KraussRobert Pincus-Witten“Outside The Box: Unpacking Craig Owens’s Slide Library” by James Meyer (Artforum, March 2003)Rose Hobart by Joseph Cornell (1936)Diva CorpTravis DiehlJohn Waters: Pope of Trash, exhibit at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 2023“Remembering Jack Goldstein” by Jennifer Bolande (Afterall 7, Spring/Summer 2003)”PST ART: Art & Science Collide,” project at Getty museum“All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace” exhibit REDCAT Center CalArts (2024)Roy Cohn & Jack Smith by Ron Vawter (April 1994)The Comet / Poppea, by George LewisCasa Grande Ruins National Monument“Time Bandits, Space Vampires” by Thomas Lawson (Artforum 1988)El Anatsui: Scottish Mission Book Depot Keta, exhibit at Talbot Rice Gallery of the University of Edinburgh (2024)Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dali (1951), Glasgow MuseumsJoseph BeuysPiecing Together Los Angeles: An Esther McCoy Reader edited by Susan Morgan (East of Borneo Books, 2012)

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer, and Johnathon Olsen, editor. Music is by Ariel Shalom, Flint, Pink Desert, and CTRL S.  These interviews are accompanied by newly commissioned portraits of these writers made by Kevin J. Miyazaki in the spaces where they work.  

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Siddhartha Mitter is a freelance writer and critic. He is one of eight writers to win the 2024 Rabkin Prize. For the first time in the prize’s history, the Rabkin Foundation commissioned portraits of the winners in the spaces where they write and conducted interviews with them about their lives and ideas. Here is Mary Louise Schumacher, a longtime journalist and the foundation’s new executive director, in conversation with Siddhartha. It has been gently edited for length and clarity.  

Mentioned in this episode:“Waking Life: Siddhartha Mitter on the art of Cauleen Smith” (Artforum, May 2019)“LaToya Ruby Frazier Is Paying It Forward” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, May 2024)“Dawoud Bey, Full Frame: On Richmond’s Trail of the Enslaved” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, November 2023)“Simone Leigh, in the World” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, April 2022)“Lorraine O’Grady, Still Cutting Into the Culture” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, February 2021)“El Anatsui Builds Monumental Art From Daily Life” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, October 2023)“At His Moment of Triumph, Arthur Jafa Is Looking for Trouble” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, May 2021)For Chakaia Booker, Whose Medium Is Tires, the Art Is in the Journey” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, May 2021)Andrea Bowers: Her Activism Animates Her Art” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, November 2021)“Steve McQueen, on a Different Wavelength” by Siddhartha Mitter (The New York Times, May 2024)Documenta 15CounterpublicCultured Magazine“Art Talk: Why Art Critics Matter” by Deborah Solomon (WNYC News, May 2013)Jupiter MagazineA Beautiful Resistance (The Boston Globe)Zoë HopkinsBurnawayContemporary Art Review Los AngelesIn the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe (Duke University Press, 2016)

This episode of The Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer, and Johnathon Olsen, editor. Music by Ariel Shalom, Flint, Just for Kicks, Aureyez, and Jim Swim. These interviews are accompanied by newly commissioned portraits of these writers made by Kevin J. Miyazaki in the spaces where they work. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Emily Watlington is a critic, curator, and senior editor at Art in America. She is one of eight writers to win the 2024 Rabkin Prize. For the first time in the prize’s history, the Rabkin Foundation commissioned portraits of the winners in the spaces where they write and conducted interviews with them about their lives and ideas. Our new Executive Director, Mary Louise Schumacher, a longtime journalist, conducted this conversation with Emily. It has been gently edited for length and clarity. 

Mentioned in this episode:

“The Pitfalls of the Something-for-Everyone Approach to the Venice Biennale” by Emily Watlington (Art In America, July 2024“Andrea Crespo” by Emily Watlington (Art Papers, Winter 2018/2019)Art in AmericaRebecca Solnit“Maurizio Cattelan’s Notorious Banana Sculpture Donated to Guggenheim Museum” by Valentina Di Liscia (Hyperallergic, September 2020)Notion appAnna Jermolaewa at the Austrian Pavilion of the 2024 Venice BiennaleNathan Fielder’s The Curse trailerLeave Society by Tao Lin (Penguin Random House, 2021)The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever by Prudence Pfeiffer (Harper, 2023)All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess by Becca Rothfeld (Metropolitan Books, 2024)

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer, and Johnathon Olsen, editor. Music is by Ariel Shalom, Flint, warmkeys, and Duce Williams.  These interviews are accompanied by newly commissioned portraits of these writers made by Kevin J. Miyazaki in the spaces where they work. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com

Greg Allen is an artist and writer who began greg.org: the making of art blog in 2001. For the first time in the prize’s history, the Rabkin Foundation commissioned portraits of the winners in the spaces where they write and conducted interviews with them about their lives and ideas. Here is Mary Louise Schumacher, a longtime journalist and the foundation’s new executive director, in conversation with Greg. It has been gently edited for length and clarity. 

Mentioned in this episode:greg.org: the making of“Lightning Field Notes” by Greg Allen (Greg.org, July 2015)“Old News” by Jeff WeissAnne TruittOnce Again . . . (Statues Never Die) by Isaac Julien, exhibit at the Barnes Foundation, 2022Ten Thousand Waves by Isaac Julian“Just Dropped: Édouard Manet Facsimile Object (M4), ‘Fleurs’” by Greg Allen (Greg.org, May 2024)“Show Me the Manets” by Greg Allen (Greg.org, September 2022)“Hirshhorn Commissions Nicolas Party To Create New Large-Scale Immersive Mural” (Smithsonian, May 2017)“The Daily Practice of Refusing” by Greg Allen (Greg.org, January 2017)GlenstoneCady NolandLIGO“A Student Thesis Has Become a Groundbreaking Show About How Black People Have Been Pictured Across Art History” by Naomi Rea (artnet, September 2018)“For One Week Only Raphael’s Great Tapestries Have Returned to the Sistine Chapel” by Kate Brown (artnet, February 2020)Danh VoUNESCO Heritage site Buddha statues“The History of Tilted Arc Is Long” by Greg Allen (Greg.org, April 2024)“Itty Bitty Videy Committee” by Greg Allen (Greg.org, August 2024) 

This episode of the Rabkin Interviews was produced by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, an artist-endowed foundation based in Portland, Maine. The Rabkin Prize is awarded through a nomination process, and an independent jury selects the winners. The production team for the Rabkin Interviews includes Cindy Eggert Johnson, producer, and Johnathon Olsen, editor. Music is by Ariel Shalom, Flint, Cosmonkey and Maybird. These interviews are accompanied by newly commissioned portraits of these writers made by Kevin J. Miyazaki in the spaces where they work. 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rabkinfoundation.substack.com