BROOKLYN, NY.- The Brooklyn Museum awarded the UOVO Prize, which recognizes the work of emerging Brooklyn-based artists, to Melissa Joseph (born United States, 1980). As the awardee, Joseph receives a solo presentation at the Brooklyn Museum, a commission for a fifty-by-fifty-foot public art installation on the facade of UOVO’s Brooklyn facility in Bushwick, and a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant.

Joseph was selected by a team of Brooklyn Museum curators from among the artists featured in The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, a major group show supported by UOVO. Her work Olive’s Hair Salon (2023) is included in the exhibition, and last year, her work Getting Reuben’s tuition book (2023) was added to the Museum’s collection. In June 2025, Joseph will present a mural at UOVO Brooklyn and an installation at the Brooklyn Museum, both referencing Italy’s Siena Cathedral. The Museum’s installation will be displayed on its outdoor plaza and publicly accessible day and night.

“We are delighted to present the UOVO Prize to Melissa Joseph, whose work explores themes of memory, familial history, and the politics of how people occupy spaces,” says Kimberli Gant, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum. “As her art addresses public spaces and the environment, it is fitting to present it in two major public locations in Brooklyn. Moreover, it makes Joseph an ideal artist for this opportunity. We’re looking forward to supporting Joseph’s vision for the UOVO mural and sharing her work with our audiences.”

Joseph’s practice spans genres including drawing, painting, ceramics, and fiber arts, for which she has become well known. Her portraits made of wool and felt showcase the materials’ texture along with the depth of Joseph’s subject matter. In depictions of domestic scenes and friendships, she often highlights mundane moments to reveal the importance of human interaction. The images are rich in color and range in scale from miniature to larger than life, allowing viewers to appreciate the detail of her labor-intensive process.

“I am thrilled to be awarded the UOVO Prize. For this project, I chose to reference the incredible floors of the Siena Cathedral and to think about the way public art has functioned throughout history,” says Joseph. “While the process and purpose of creating public art have both expanded and accelerated, the potential for profound human connection remains and that is what most excites and inspires me about this project. I have deep gratitude to UOVO and the Brooklyn Museum for this opportunity.”

“We’re pleased to continue our longstanding partnership with UOVO by awarding the annual UOVO Prize to our fifth recipient,” says Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum. “In addition, we’re excited to highlight Melissa Joseph’s work on our Iris Cantor Plaza, an important public space for gathering and reflection at the Brooklyn Museum.”

Previous UOVO Prize winners are John Edmonds, Baseera Khan, Oscar yi Hou, and Suneil Sanzgiri.

Melissa Joseph is a New York–based artist. Her work considers themes of memory, family history, and the politics of how we occupy spaces. By using needle felting and found objects, she intentionally alludes to the labors of women as well as experiences as a second-generation American and the unique juxtapositions of diasporic life. Her work has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, Delaware Contemporary, Woodmere Art Museum, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Jeffrey Deitch Projects, and ICA San Francisco. She has been featured in Hyperallergic, Artforum, Artnet, ARTnews, New American Paintings, Vogue, Le Monde, CNN, WNYC, Architectural Digest, Whitewall, and Family Style. In addition, Joseph has participated in residencies at Artpace, Dieu Donné Workspace Residency, Textile Arts Center, Fountainhead, Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Museum of Arts and Design, and Greenwich House Pottery, among others. She was recently selected for the 2025 Artsy Vanguard, and her work is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Ruby City, Rhode Island School of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. She is a regular contributor to BOMB magazine.