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.com
Ana Rosa Marx is a mixed-media artist who grew up between Havana, Cuba and Chicago, IL. Weaving photography, film, performance, and installation, her practice is shaped by the collection and veneration of objects, images and stories that have been abandoned or overlooked. Ana is primarily concerned with archival absences, and with turning over two fundamental questions: How do we let the silences of history speak? And if they could develop this power, what would they say? She also organizes with No More Deaths in Arizona to resist dehumanization and state violence towards migrants and asylum seekers crossing the US’ southern border. These days, she is inspired by ways that inter-species alliances, inner-child play practices, and speculative fiction can be used to manifest alternate (post-capitalist/colonial) futures.
anarosamarx.com