Rohan Datta '22 Receives Prestigious American Vision Award

Rohan Datta '22 has received the prestigious Scholastic American Vision Award for his conceptual sculpture Money for Nothing. He is the first student in Galloway's history to receive this award, given to just 100 students nationwide; notable past winners include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, and Amanda Gorman.

 

"The horrific numbers inundating the news from the Spring of 2020 forced me to reflect on societal inequalities such as poverty and social injustice, culminating in Money for Nothing," said Rohan of his sculpture. "This work is an ash-based dynamic sculpture reflecting the pandemic-driven $6.6 trillion economic loss, which has been disproportionately felt by minority and under-resourced groups. I chose to use ash to represent this economic loss because ash is a symbol of sin and implies the unscrupulous means through which billionaires profited $1.2 trillion while vast populations suffered job losses, health crises, and homelessness during the pandemic."

 

Rohan also received a National Gold Medal in the Expanded Projects category for this piece.

 

For more information about the creation of Money for Nothing and to watch a video of the sculpture in action, visit Rohan's website!