The Patricia Massey Momentum Award Exhibition

The Patricia Massey Momentum Award Exhibition showcases work by three emerging immigrant visual artists living in Maryland whose practices reflect cultural heritage, migration, identity, and lived experience. The exhibition features finalists Madyha Leghari, Bao Nguyen, and Ghazal Mojtahedi, bringing their distinct approaches to performance, sculpture, installation, film, digital media, and interdisciplinary storytelling together in a group presentation.

The Patricia Massey Momentum Award provides financial support, exhibition opportunities, and greater visibility for immigrant artists. One recipient receives a $10,000 award and participates in public programming with Creative Alliance, while all three selected artists present their work in the exhibition. The award is made possible by the McNeely Massey Family.

When: September 23 through November 14

Opening: Wednesday, September 23, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

On View: September 23 through November 14

Showtimes: Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.

Tickets: Free

Venue: Main Gallery at Creative Alliance

Artists: Madyha Leghari, Bao Nguyen, and Ghazal Mojtahedi

Madyha Leghari: Leghari is a Washington, D.C.-based visual artist, writer, and educator whose interdisciplinary work investigates the instability of language and the body, including pregnancy, embodiment, and ideas of what is considered “natural.” She earned a BFA from the National College of Arts in Lahore and an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design as a Fulbright Scholar. Her honors include the Folger Artistic Research Fellowship, Hamiltonian Artists Fellowship, Nicholson Studio Residency, Bresler Residency at VisArts, and Wherewithal Research Grant. Her work has been exhibited at the Phillips Collection, Kreeger Museum, Pera Museum, and Karachi Biennale, and has been covered by the Washington Post and Artforum.

Bao Nguyen: Nguyen is a Baltimore-based visual and performance artist who was born in Vietnam. Their performances and sculptures explore relationships with places that are overlooked, unregulated, or neglected. Their practice develops through movement, creative fieldwork, and ongoing conversations with community members.

Ghazal Mojtahedi: Mojtahedi is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Baltimore and a PhD researcher in Human-Centered Interaction. Her work encompasses installation, video mapping, motion graphics, mixed media, and digital technologies. She explores memory, displacement, belonging, and the emotional connections between people and places, with particular attention to migrant communities. Drawing on personal and collective experiences of migration, she transforms everyday objects, domestic materials, and cultural symbols into reflective spaces for storytelling. Mojtahedi holds an MFA in Intermedia and Digital Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her thesis, *Hanging Garden and Echo of Home*, received the 2025 Kathy O’Dell IMDA Award for outstanding thesis writing and exhibition. Her films, which address migration and women’s equity, have been screened and recognized at film festivals in the United States and internationally.

Online Viewing: The exhibition can also be viewed online.

Address: Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21224