On Monday, September 29, 2025, Project for Empty Space (PES) celebrated its 15th anniversary at the 2025 Badass Art Woman Awards, in splendid form with a theme of La Resilience.
La Resilience took inspiration from women who have created radically nurturing spaces for artists to thrive, even in troubled times. These women were educators, gallerists, and residency organizers. They were mothers, grandmothers, and nurturers. They ensured that artists had what they needed to flourish at every stage of their careers.
This year’s honorees were Dr. Deborah Willis, Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; Ebony L. Haynes, Global Head of Curatorial Projects at David Zwirner; and Helen Toomer, Founder of Stoneleaf Retreat and Upstate Art Weekend and Co-Founder of Art Mamas Alliance.
As a special twist, each of the three extraordinary honorees was invited to nominate five individuals they saw as their Fellow Badass. Together, these visionary leaders spanned education, curation, and artist advocacy, and embodied radical care in action.
Nominated by Dr. Deborah Willis: Kalia Brooks, Dr. Cheryl Finley, Rujeko Hockley, Dr. Kellie Jones, and Carla Williams.
Nominated by Ebony L. Haynes: Ruba Katrib, Lauren Marinaro, Meg Onli, Legacy Russell, and Courtney Willis Blair.
Nominated by Helen Toomer: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Jennifer Hoffman-Williamson, Sophie Landres, Alison Matheny, and Megan E. Noh.
2025 BADASS ART WOMAN AWARD HONOREES
Deborah Willis, Ph.D. is University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has affiliated appointments with the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Social & Cultural Analysis, and the Institute of Fine Arts, where she teaches courses on Photography & Imaging, iconicity, and cultural histories visualizing the black body, women, and gender. She is the founding director of NYU’s Center for Black Visual Culture/Institute of African American Affairs. Her research examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, the photographic history of Slavery and Emancipation, contemporary women photographers, and beauty.
She is the author of The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship and Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present, among others. Dr. Willis’ curated exhibitions include: “Framing Moments in the'' Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts, and "Free as they want to be: Artists Committed to Memory'' FotoFocus.
Dr. Willis was awarded the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and was a Richard D. Cohen Fellow in African and African American Art, Hutchins Center, Harvard University; a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, and an Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. Fellow. She was the Robert Mapplethorpe Photographer in Residence of the American Academy in Rome and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a recipient of the Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art by the Crystal Bridges Museum in 2022; was named the Mary Lucille Dauray Artist-in-Residence by the Norton Museum of Art and taught her a Master Class titled Home, Reimagining Interiority at Anderson Ranch in 2023.
Ebony L. Haynes is a writer and curator from Toronto, Canada. She is presently based in New York where she is senior director at David Zwirner and leads the gallery’s 52 Walker space in Tribeca. Haynes sits on the boards of Artists Space (New York) and the New Art Dealers Alliance. She also runs Black Art Sessions, an online “school” that offers free professional practice classes to Black students worldwide.
Helen Toomer is a curator, arts advocate, and founder of several arts initiatives, including STONELEAF RETREAT, an artist residency focused on women and families; upbringing, a project space in Kingston, New York; and UPSTATE ART WEEKEND, an annual event that connects arts organizations across the Hudson Valley. She is also the co-founder of Art Mamas Alliance, a support network for parents in the arts. She has held leadership roles at a number of prominent art fairs, including Photofairs New York, the IFPDA Print Fair, Collective Design Fair, and PULSE Contemporary Art Fair. She co-founded the contemporary art gallery toomer labzda in New York City and has lectured widely. She currently serves on the advisory committees of the Dorsky Museum and Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York.
The Badass Art Woman Awards annually honor visionary women who are creating meaningful change in the arts. For this year’s anniversary edition, we’ve embraced the theme La Resilience—a tribute to women who have cultivated radically nurturing spaces for artists, even in the face of adversity.
The Badass Art Woman Award (BAWA) emerged organically one day while chatting with several other cultural practitioners in our circle at an event. We noticed a general homogeneity in the types of people who are recognized in large institutional spaces. It was very apparent that many of the women cultural workers in our industry; particularly those who cross over multiple roles beyond artists (ie curators, gallerists, academics, writers, etc.), are often overlooked. Of course, there are occasions when women in the art world transcend into the mainstream realm; however, those instances are far too few. We wanted to create an award that brought in a true sense of celebration and joy- a ‘badass’ celebration! Thus, BAWA was born. A celebration of women who do phenomenal work within the Contemporary Art world.