Brandeis Magazine

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City has acquired two 2021 photo collages — “Noon-o-namak (Bread and Salt)” and “Khooroos (Rooster) Named Manoocher” — by assistant professor of fine arts Sheida Soleimani, a multimedia tableaux artist. Soleimani’s artwork explores representations of suffering, including the pain experienced by political prisoners, women in the Middle East, and nations victimized by American colonialism.

In March, composer Eric Chasalow, the Irving Fine Professor of Music, premiered his new song cycle, “Muriel’s Songs,” at the Slosberg Music Center. Commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, the composition is scored for a mezzo-soprano soloist and 11 instruments, and incorporates Baroque, Latin jazz, disco, and Tin Pan Alley musical styles. In Chasalow’s words, the music “traverses the tumult of 20th-century America from the very personal, intimate, and primarily domestic perspective of my grandmother.”

Artist Sonia Almeida, an associate professor of fine arts, has been named a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow. The fellowship, given by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, comes with a stipend to support independent work under “the freest possible conditions.” Almeida, a Brandeis faculty member since 2014, teaches courses in printmaking, artists’ books, and fabric arts.

Jonathan Fischer ’07 joined The Washington Post in January as the newspaper’s arts and entertainment editor. The history and politics major previously led Slate’s business, tech, and media section for nine years.