Baltimore artist Ahuja wins a Guggenheim fellowship

The most recent batch of Guggenheim fellows includes a rising Baltimore artist working to redefine the self-portrait.

Mequitta Ahuja, who was a 2015 finalist for the Sondheim Artscape Prize, was among the 173 winners — a mix of academics, artists and scientists. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation received nearly 3,000 applicants in the awards’ 94th year, according to its website, and the winners were unveiled April 4.

Ahuja, 42, has lived in Baltimore since she received an artist’s residency at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011. Her works have been widely exhibited across the world — from Baltimore to Paris.

The painter draws on her AfricanAmerican and East Indian background to produce figurative paintings and works on paper, and her current work focuses on reshaping the self-portrait. She said she wants to shift the self-portrait of a woman of color away from a conversation piece about identity and personal condition to demonstrate her expertise on painting and art.

The Guggenheim grant, whose amount she declined to disclose, will further her work with self-portraiture. She said it’s the largest award she’s ever received.

Ahuja previously applied for a Guggenheim grant in 2012, and said she was pleasantly surprised to be named among this year’s winners.

“I thought I had a shot, but a long shot,” she said.

Ahuja is working on a new series of oil paintings for an exhibition in Milan, Italy, that will open in November.

Several of Ahuja’s pieces — including three large paintings that were originally exhibited at the Walters Art Museum — are on display in London and will move to a gallery in Brussels, Belgium, later this week.