The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has announced Alison Saar as the 2025 recipient of the prestigious David C. Driskell Prize. Now in its 20th year, the $50,000 award honors Saar for her profound contributions to African American art, and her decades-long commitment to exploring identity, history, and the Black experience through sculpture, installation, and mixed media.
Saar will be recognized at the Driskell Prize Gala on Saturday, September 20, 2025, at the High. This milestone celebration will also feature a special performance by EGOT-winning musician John Legend, underscoring the cultural significance of the event.
“I am deeply honored to be chosen as the 2025 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize in African American Art and Art History,” Saar said. “I came to honor David Driskell not only as a brilliant historian and artist, but also as a dear friend. I’m especially grateful to receive this award from the High Museum, which, in 1993, commissioned me to create the exhibition Fertile Ground. That exhibition was one of my first solo museum shows and later toured many museums across the United States.”
“Receiving this prize allows me to continue creating works that confront the dehumanizing history of enslaved African Americans and highlight how the legacy of those injustices continues to affect Black communities today,” she continued. “It gives me the freedom to make art that speaks to our painful past, celebrates our strength and beauty in the present, and envisions a powerful and glorious future.”
A Los Angeles-based artist, Saar has long been known for work that weaves together African American narratives with folklore, literature, and mythology. Her art has appeared in institutions around the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, LACMA, and the High itself—which hosted one of her earliest solo museum shows, Fertile Ground, in 1993. Most recently, her installation Soul Service Station was presented at Desert X 2025 in Coachella Valley, and her Olympic-commissioned sculpture Salon now resides in Paris’s Charles Aznavour Garden.
Established in 2005, the Driskell Prize is the first national award of its kind to spotlight groundbreaking work in African American art and scholarship. Named in honor of legendary artist and educator David C. Driskell, the prize has become a benchmark of excellence in the field. Past recipients include contemporary luminaries like Amy Sherald, Mark Bradford, Ebony G. Patterson, and Rashid Johnson.
“The Driskell Prize is a recognition of excellence and impact,” said High Museum of Art Director Rand Suffolk. “Consequently, prize winners are already making their mark on the world. The Prize, however, adds emphasis and celebrates the recipients’ achievements in a fashion that elevates the significance of their voices and gravity of their work.”
The 2025 selection committee featured artist Willie Cole (a 2006 Driskell Prize honoree), Dr. Kellie Jones of Columbia University (the inaugural recipient in 2005), and High Museum curators Kevin W. Tucker and Maria L. Kelly. Saar was chosen from a competitive national pool of nominees representing a wide spectrum of artistic and academic voices.
In addition to recognizing exceptional talent, proceeds from the Driskell Gala support the museum’s David C. Driskell African American Art Acquisition and Endowment Funds, which have enabled the High to acquire 52 works by Black artists since the prize’s inception.
