The Robert S. Wennett and Mario Cader-Frech Foundation Award provides $25,000 to an artist with a practice in design, film, photography or visual art, whose work uplifts or embodies the LGBTQ+ community. The inaugural recipient of this award is Ezra Blumenfeld (2026 Photography).
As a Filipino Jewish-American, Trans-identifying emerging creator, Ezra employs a wide-reaching technical and emotional vocabulary—in printmaking and experimental photography—to navigate the complexities of mixed-faith and queer identity. Their practice is dedicated to making the intangible nuances of identity and accessibility visible and felt within the public sphere.
We spoke with Ezra to learn more about their practice and what this award means to them.
Can you tell us about your artistic practice?
“I work in a state of consistent inconsistency. My practice doesn’t orbit one single idea or medium; instead, I move between photography, dance, poetry, and pastry like a lone asteroid passing through different systems. I am not interested in being pinned down… because I refuse to be constrained, I have become a “jack of all trades.” I don’t see this as a lack of focus, but a mastery of the space between things. Whether I am choreographing movements or improvising digital photo edits because I lack a studio, the connective tissue is my willingness to adapt. I lean into my mistakes. I treat them as essential materials that deepen a piece’s meaning. Improvisation is what makes the work real—the fact that a dance is different every night or a print changes every time it is pressed. I am not looking for a “center” in my work, and I hope the viewer doesn’t find one either… I am always nearing a sense of mastery, but I hope to never fully reach it. In my world, discovery is the only thing that is truly unlimited.”
How will this award impact your artistic practice and your ability to build a career as an artist?
“This grant provides the essential infrastructure to execute my most ambitious project to date: “Putting Myself Out There.” By simulating celebrity aesthetics through a massive $15,000 NYC wheatpasting campaign, I am reclaiming high-visibility spaces usually reserved for corporate advertising to investigate the “ego-barrier” created by fame… this award doesn’t just fund an installation; it establishes my foundation as a professional artist dedicated to challenging urban isolation. By making myself a “public object,” I am inviting a global conversation on what it truly means to “be known,” launching my career with a definitive, provocative statement.”
How does your artistic practice embody and/or uplift the LGBTQ+ community?
“I think that being seen is a form of activism for people who are on the outside. As a queer, trans and mixed-race artist, “Putting Myself Out There” is my way of taking back the “gaze” in public places where people like me are often forgotten or ignored. I’m making a physical presence that can’t be taken away, by wheatpasting a single, eye-catching editorial self-portrait in over 100 places in NYC. The project changes the usual media story by putting a trans and queer teenager at the center of a “celebrity” campaign. This makes people interact with my identity on my own terms instead of through stereotypes or assumptions. I want to help my community in physical ways, not just through pictures. I’m using $8,000 of this award to hire LGBTQ+ teens, who are photographers, to document the project with me. I want young queer artists to know early on that their skills are worth pursuing in the real world. By giving them professional pay, I’m showing them that they can make a living doing what they love while being part of something bigger than themselves… we can take up space, manage a big budget, and tell our own stories in the real world.”
This opportunity is made possible by the Robert S. Wennett and Mario Cader-Frech Foundation.