2025 Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Fellowship Winner: Miguel Caba

The Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2025 Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Fellowship has been awarded to Miguel Caba, 22, a recent graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University.

For their Fellowship project, Miguel proposes to create a large-scale installation of 2D & 3D paintings on wood that explore how digital communication formats shape both our understanding of the world and how we communicate with loved ones over distance.

All images courtesy of the artist

In their winning proposal, Miguel wrote that the source images for their recent works come from images received from their mother in Toronto and their grandmother in the Philippines: “I long for their presence, yet I am only able to feel close to them through images sent through text or video calls. Often, they send me images of garden and house plants and with each passing month I see their gardens evolve. The same happens in their homes as furniture is moved, wallpaper is changed, and new items are added. I turn the digital images they send into sculptural paintings– some fit together to form boxes, while others take the shape of household items like a curtain or a couch, alluding to real objects from home.

"This ever-present idea of longing for home is inspired by the Filipino tradition of sending balikbayan (meaning “to return to the homeland”) boxes from abroad back to the Philippines. In a way, these works bridge the distance between us. They are dreams of far-off homes akin to memories.”

The 2025 Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Fellowship jury members who chose Miguel's proposal were Helena Anrather, Ben Thorp Brown, Nathan Clements-Gillespie, Gracie Mansion, Rachel Rose, Xiaoyu Weng, and Lucas Zwirner.

About The Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Fellowship

The Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Fellowship is the flagship program of the Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Foundation, a New York-based not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing creative capital to emerging artists. Each year, the Ahn Fellowship welcomes emerging artists from any background or country to submit proposals for the creation of a single artwork or unified series of artworks over the course of three months. The Ahn Fellowship provides funding for the chosen Fellow's project, primarily for the cost of materials, equipment, and studio space necessary to complete the proposed work. Each year, the winning Fellow is chosen by a distinguished jury of artists, curators, gallerists, and established arts professionals. Founded in 2014, the Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Foundation honors the creative potential and independent spirit of Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. (1995-2012).