Oct 21, 2023, to Apr 20, 2025

For the first time ever, NMWA has produced a series of short films spotlighting collection artists. For this project, NMWA worked with the award-winning film production company Smartypants Pictures to create the series, each video profiling one contemporary artist in the museum’s collection. These short vignettes (around three minutes each), highlight the practice of each artist and reveal how initiatives for equity, those pursued by the artists themselves as well as institutional programs like NMWA’s, shape their careers and daily lives.

The eight artists profiled in the series are: Ambreen Butt, Sonya Clark, Colette Fu, Guerrilla Girls, Graciela Iturbide, Delita Martin, Rania Matar, and Alison Saar. Presented in two phases, with four artists highlighted in each phase, this series spotlights groundbreaking women artists at work today.

To ensure an immersive in-gallery experience, NMWA worked with the experiential design firm Art Processors to create an intimate viewing experience for the films. Graphic wall panels include QR codes to access online resources as well as locations to the artists’ artwork in the museum’s collection galleries. With this series, NMWA continues its commitment to artists working today and sharing their stories with visitors both in person and online.

Two women are standing and sitting in a dark room in front of three large screens. A film is playing, showing a person in a gorilla costume holding up a banner. The banner says: "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?"

In Focus: Artists at Work at the National Museum of Women in the Arts; Photo by Joy Asico-Smith

Exhibition Sponsors

In Focus: Artists at Work is produced by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in collaboration with Smartypants Pictures and Art Processors.

The video series is generously supported by the members of NMWA. Project design is made possible through the generous support of Denise Littlefield Sobel, with additional funding provided by Jamie Gorelick and Richard Waldhorn.

Display screens contributed by Sony Corporation of America.

Featured Artists

Delita Martin

Delita Martin highlights her subjects’ spiritual and ancestral connections in layered works that combine prints, textiles, paint, drawing, and collage.

A woman with dark skin tone and short, black, curly hair smiles and wears bold gray-and-white polka dot glasses and a sleeveless top with a black-and-white geometric pattern.

Rania Matar

Rania Matar captures the shared femininity of young women and girls from the U.S. and the Middle East in her evocative photography.

A photographic portrait of a woman with a medium-light skin tone and curly, brown hair. The woman wears a purple blouse, glasses, and a chunky silver necklace. She sits before a white background and smiles at the camera.

Ambreen Butt

Pakistan-born artist Ambreen Butt expands the visual language of traditional Indo-Persian manuscript painting to tell the stories of women in contemporary political culture.

In a bust-length image, a woman with black hair and medium-toned skin wears a dark blue headscarf and stands in front of an abstract artwork.

Sonya Clark

Textile artist Sonya Clark interweaves craft, history, and race to create mixed-media works that celebrate Blackness and address racial tensions and stereotypes.

A woman with medium-dark skin tone and short black hair smiles into the camera. She wears black glasses, a white and yellow knit top and gold earrings.

Colette Fu

Colette Fu creates sculptural pop-up books that illuminate cultures and depict myths and legends.

A light-skinned, adult, Asian woman with black hair dressed in black sits on the floor of her cluttered studio surrounded by elaborate pop-up books. She holds up her mobile phone to take a photo.

Guerrilla Girls

The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous collective of artist-activists promoting gender and racial equality.

Four figures stand side by side and wear gorilla masks that cover their entire heads. The background shows a sunlit building with arched windows, sky, and in the lower right corner a small glimpse of water and the tip of a gondola. Each guerilla holds a pink sign with black text.

Graciela Iturbide

Graciela Iturbide’s photographs reveal the daily lives, customs, and rituals of Mexico’s underrepresented native cultures.

A black-and-white photograph of an adult woman with short, dark hair looking into the viewfinder of a small film camera. She is outdoors with grass behind her. She holds the camera with her right hand and focuses the lense with her left. She is smiling as she looks into it.

Alison Saar

Alison Saar creates artworks that frequently transform found objects to reflect themes of cultural and social identity, history, and religion.

A light-skinned, adult woman speaking with one hand extended and the other touching her neck in a white gallery filled with her colorful artworks depicting African-American women. She has curly gray hair, glasses, and wears a simple, black, sleeveless top and a necklace.

In Focus: Artists at Work Trailer

Featured Artists

Ambreen Butt

A woman with medium skin tone wearing a multicolored head scarf, beige cardigan, maroon top, and black pants stands in a gallery speaking in front of group of people sitting and listening. The speaker is the artist gesturing while speaking in front of five intricate, detailed prints.

The magic of Ambreen Butt’s work is in the details. Learn more about the artist's process, watch her "In Focus" artist film, and explore her artwork on view.

Ambreen Butt: On View May 2024 to Apr 2025

Sonya Clark

Sonya Clark transforms simple materials into powerful revelations and stirring tributes to her ancestors. Learn more about the artist's process, watch her "In Focus" artist film, and explore her artwork on view.

Sonya Clark: On View May 2024 to Apr 2025

Colette Fu

A woman with medium skin tone and dark hair wearing a black dress holds a large pop-up artist book, which unfolds in her hand and onto a table.

Colette Fu’s photographs find vibrancy and dimension in the form of intricate pop-up books. Learn more about the artist's process, watch her "In Focus" artist film, and explore her artwork on view.

Colette Fu: On View May 2024 to Apr 2025

Graciela Iturbide

A woman in a fedora and a long black dress poses in front of a large black-and-white photograph of a woman wearing a floral dress and a large headdress who is standing, looking upward.

The element of surprise is central to Graciela Iturbide’s majestic black-and-white photographs. Learn more about the artist's process, watch her "In Focus" artist film, and explore her artwork on view.

Graciela Iturbide: On View May 2024 to Apr 2025