2025 Project Award

Joshua Albeza Branstetter will create a mixed media project to open a portal into the lives of Filipino personnel living at Adak Naval Air Station during the final days of the Cold War. He will utilize archival VHS tapes and travel to Adak to capture audio and video footage and photographs of the now abandoned base, using past and present imagery and soundscapes to recreate the vibrant places where he grew up, still new and full of life.

When asked what he would like the public to know, Branstetter responded, “I’m just trying to share my heart, and how I see the world; I’m grateful people find that interesting.”

(Left to right) Rose Wages, 2023, Fairbanks, photograph taken as part of MANA, a multimedia storytelling project on Filipinos in Alaska; “Batok Ceremonies,” 2025; Diega Vaughn, 2023 Fairbanks, photograph taken as part of MANA, a multimedia storytelling project on Filipinos in Alaska.

2020 Fellowship Award

(Joshua Albeza Branstetter received a 2020 Fellowship Award as part of the group Absolute Zero)

Absolute Zero includes: Sarah Davies, sculptor and project director; Ed Mighell, ceramic engineer; and Joshua Albeza Branstetter, documentary filmmaker. Rachelle Branstetter is project manager.

The artists will work with sexual assault survivors on a sculptural installation in Western Alaska. The sculptures will make sound as a metaphor for breaking silence. A film documenting the process will amplify the convergence of voices calling for “absolute zero” sexual violence.