Woodbury Artist, Advocate Named Bush Foundation Fellows

WOODBURY, MN — Two Woodbury residents are among two dozen people to earn 2022 Bush Fellowships.

Artist Ifrah Mansour and Rania Johnson, an advocate for the deaf, earned the coveted fellowships from the Bush Foundation, which provide a grant up to $100,000. Both of their fellowship terms are due to last two years.

Mansour, a Somali-American performance artist, “sees art as the way we can heal the world,” according to her profile on the Bush Foundation website.

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Mansour experienced civil war, famine and refugee camps as a child and says her “grandmother’s storytelling saved her,” her profile states.

She creates original performances that “build understanding, empathy and connection within Muslim and greater American communities,” the Bush Foundation said.

Mansour “wants to reach more people by creating social impact films that amplify and transform her stage work,” according to the foundation. “She believes film can shed light on stories of injustice and resistance, as well as capture the disappearing memories and wisdom of Somali elders.”

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She will use her fellowship to design, seek and complete filmmaking courses and a hands-on apprenticeship, as well as traveling to film festivals to “build her influence and leadership” and her network of filmmakers, the foundation said.

Mansour’s artwork was featured in the “I am Somali” exhibition, the first major museum exhibition of work by contemporary Somali artists in the Midwest, and she has also been on PBS’ “Minnesota Original” series, according to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Rania Johnson is set to pursue a doctoral program that’s dedicated to training deaf researchers in linguistic, community and leadership work, while expanding her national network of BIPOC deaf leaders, according her profile on the Bush Foundation website.

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Johnson “grew up with multiple identities,” as she is adopted, Korean and deaf and was raised by white, deaf parents, according to the organization.

“Informed by this background, she is keenly aware of the disparities in language rights, education and services for Deaf people of color,” the organization said.

Johnson is working to explore “the multiple ways that diverse Deaf people use their experiences to create, shift or shape their use of American Sign Language,” while advocating for policies that train more people in criminal justice, social service and education systems about the “culturally rich and nuanced” American Sign Language, the Bush Foundation said.

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Bush Foundation Fellowship grants provide recipients with up to $100,000 to help them “strengthen and develop” their leadership following self-defined plans, according to the organization.

The Bush Foundation, based in St. Paul, was established in 1953 by Archibald and Edyth Bush. It offers grants and opportunities “to people who think bigger and differently about problem solving” in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and within the 23 Native nations in that region.

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