Meet the 2023 Fellows: Aidyn Mancenido
Published on July 19, 2023. Interview by 2023 Summer Intern, Rachel McGinnis.
Aidyn Mancenido is an applied anthropologist and artist. She relies on a range of mediums to probe the complexities and nuances of a range of issues, and to support her intellectual, healing and community work. During her 2023 New City Arts Fellowship, Aidyn explored the embodied and mechanical underpinnings of intimacy and community, beyond the discourse on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Images from Aidyn Mancenido’s durational performance with Michael Okusa, a culmination of her Fellowship project. The performance was held on July 7, 2023 and lasted over four hours.
First, the most important* question: What food would you reach for first in a food fight and why?
Bananas - they wouldn’t hurt the other so much :)
How did you interpret the theme “soft spot” and how do you see it realized in what you’ve produced for this exhibition?
When I first applied, I understood soft spot as the ever-evolving part of myself that has been emerging as I have been getting more in touch with my Filipino roots; as I have been becoming more brown. For the exhibition, I focused on an exploration of building intimacy more generally, on the “Architectures of intimacy.” Through a durational performance with an Other, I was able to touch into more undiscovered parts of myself that I often don’t access because of perceived lack of time, distractions, and habitual behaviors that blind me from the wealth of “me.” I realized that these “soft spots” emerge more fully in the presence of an Other; in relationship.
How would you describe your experience as an Artist Fellow with New City Arts?
Beautiful! I felt so well taken care of, with the snacks, the level of detailed organization, responsiveness, and support from Tori. I appreciated the level of publicity around our time as fellows.
How has Charlottesville impacted your artistic work and life as an artist?
Charlottesville as a small town allows for connections to be easily made, collaborations to form, resources to be accessed with ease, and support in general from the community. The proverbial life of the “starving artist” does not feel as weighty or harrowing. Though, the flip side of all this is that as artists we have smaller audiences, and I often miss the level of artistic energy and creative stimulation available in bigger cities like Chicago and NYC.
What motivates you to produce art?
Curiosity! Art offers other mediums for exploring my mental conundrums.
What have you learned about yourself as a person through the experience of making art?
That I am incredibly creative and expansive in divine ways :)
What do you do for rest?
I read. Spend time with my daughter. Go for walks. Hang with friends.
The New City Arts Fellowship creates space, time, and financial support for Charlottesville-area artists to make work in response to an annual open call and proposal theme. At the conclusion of the fellowship, work created by each Artist Fellow is presented in a group exhibition. This year’s theme is entitled Soft Spot by Marisa Williamson. This open call invited artists to consider the ways their work reveals unseen openings, sites of ongoing growth, unfused structures, and delicate parts that require gentleness and care. Artists spent their creative fellowship developing their interpretations of their soft spots, and shared the products of that work in the group exhibition.
