2025 Art & Film Benefit

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Honors Cheryl Dunye and Trevor Paglen

Saturday, May 10, 2025

BAMPFA is delighted to announce our fourth annual Art and Film Benefit, paying tribute to Trevor Paglen and Cheryl Dunye, creative visionaries with indelible impacts in the world of art and film. The two artists will be honored among 300+ friends and guests at BAMPFA on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at this special event supporting the museum’s distinctive commitment to art, film, and student engagement. Join us in celebrating these exceptional artists and investing in the future of BAMPFA! 

More event details coming soon.

For More Information

If you are interested in attending, or would like more information about this event, please contact Alexis Gordon at bampfabenefit@berkeley.edu or (510) 642-2302.

About the Honorees

Cheryl Dunye
Iconic queer Black director, writer, and producer Cheryl Dunye first gained recognition for her influential contributions to the 1990s Queer New Wave. Her innovative short films and videos, and groundbreaking screwball comedy The Watermelon Woman combine talking head documentary techniques, sharp and distinctive screenwriting, excellent performances, humor, and pathos to depict Black and lesbian identities, desire, and relationships.

Dunye lives in the Bay Area and recently founded the Oakland-based production company Jingletown Films. She has garnered acclaim for directing episodic television including; OWN’s Queen Sugar, TNT’s Claws, Freeform’s The Fosters; OWN’s Love Is, Showtime’s The Chi, Netflix’s Dear White People, CBS’s All Rise, HBO’s Lovecraft Country, and Netflix’s Bridgerton.

Born in Liberia and raised in Philadelphia, Dunye received a B.A. from Temple University, and an M.F.A. from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. A dedicated educator, she has taught at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, Pomona College, California Institute of the Arts, The New School of Social Research, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and San Francisco State University.

Trevor Paglen
Trevor Paglen is widely recognized for his photographs, films, and writings that investigate theoretical questions around vision, technology, and notions of truth. Informed by his education in experimental geography, Paglen’s artistic practice draws on deep research and investigative journalism.

Paglen’s photographs document sites often obscured from public knowledge, including secret military bases omitted from maps and internet cables buried beneath the ocean. Paglen’s work addresses rapid developments in technology, examining the biases and potentials of artificial intelligence and computer vision. In a culture increasingly shaped by manipulated media and disinformation, Paglen scrutinizes the invisible forces within the visible world.

Based between New York and Berlin, Paglen has deep ties to Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay Area. He received a BA from UC Berkeley, an MFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, and a PhD in Geography from UC Berkeley. He has been included in several exhibitions at BAMPFA, including his first solo museum exhibition, MATRIX 255 / Trevor Paglen: The Other Night Sky (2008). His work has been included in group exhibitions internationally, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Tate Modern. Paglen is the recipient of several awards and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2017.