Meet The Artists and Facilitators
Behind Multimedia Love Letter
Lead Facilitator :
Mengwen Cao (they/them) is a photographer, artist, educator and somatic coach creating multimedia portals for personal and collective transformation.
Weaving their embodied experience as a Chinese queer diaspora nonbinary person into their spiritual and creative practices, they use care and tenderness to explore in-between spaces.
They see photography as a vehicle for healing and a tool to visualize the future. As a facilitator, they are trained in somatic coaching and various healing practices.
Their projects have been featured on publications like Aperture, Vogue, i-D, The New York Times and NPR. They have participated in international exhibitions like BredaPhoto, Photoville, Jimei Arles, Lianzhou Foto Festival.
Mengwen graduated from the New Media Narratives and Documentary Practice program at the International Center of Photography in 2017. They received NLGJA’s Excellence in Photojournalism Award in 2019. They were recognized by The Lit List in 2018, PDN 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2019, World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent in 2020 and Art in America 20 Talent to Watch in 2023.
Previsouly, Mengwen has served as a board member of Authority Collective, championing space for diverse narratives and perspectives in the media industry.
@mengwencao
mengwencao.com
Teaching Assistant:
Macy Castañeda Lee(they/them) is a non-binary Filipino photographer, organizer, public speaker, & curator. They focus on advocating for psychology, mental health, social justice, and education in the work they do.
Passionate about human beings, identity, vulnerability, and the mind, Macy calls themselves a “student for life”, consistently challenging the relationship between our external world with our internal one. With an early exposure to students with mental exceptionalities such as autism & down syndrome, Macy advocates for creating a more kind & empathic world through multi-media storytelling & research. They study how factors such as cultural movements, generational trauma, & societal norms affect the inner workings of our mind. In turn, they hope to share how humans are active agents that turn those factors over to the next generation & how important it is for one to break stigma in order to create more sustainable futures.
They run and founded a Philippine based non-profit, Talang Dalisay alongside its special project based organization, Bayan Kinaadman. They are the head curator & organizer of Worlds Through Minds, which is a people funded photography gallery and photo publication house which takes place around the world.
@macycastanedalee
mcastanedalee.com