In a group exhibition focused on care, COME AS YOU ARE addresses how we care for ourselves and each other and asks: In what ways can the creative process be an act of healing for our communities and ourselves? What conversations can be created through collaborative making? Through this exhibition, artists utilize a diversity of fiber/textile media to illustrate their visions of collective care.

The participating artists originally connected through their intersecting community and artistic practices. There was a shared desire to “do more,” whether that meant exploring new media, participating in liberatory work, or simply having the time to hang out together. This exhibition is a point of reset. In the way it presented the artists an opportunity to re-examine their relationships with their mediums, viewers are invited to come as you are, reflect on one’s needs and “to-do” lists, and just be in the space together.

About the Curator
Abby Linatoc Mendoza (they/she) is a second-generation Filipino American multidisciplinary artist from the suburbs of Chicago, IL. With a BFA in Painting from the Herron School of Art + Design (2020) and an MA in Art Therapy & Counseling from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2023), Abby’s practice is community-focused and rooted in positive youth development. While they see themself as an artist first, Abby’s training as a therapist informs their current work in art education and non-profit organizations. Their artwork has been shown in galleries across Chicago, Wichita, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles.

About the Artists
Ash Nañoz is a first-generation Filipinx American multidisciplinary artist. Ash’s work investigates and comforts her natural emotional sensitivity. Following their intuition, they use fibers and fashion to extend their feelings.

Abbey Poniente Monsalud is a second-generation Filipinx American multidisciplinary artist, art therapist, and daydreamer. They enjoy using both spirituality and creativity to depict romantic reality and the ethereality of being. You might find them reflecting on odd phenomenology in (human) nature, laughing at their own jokes, and daydreaming of harmonic futures. Abbey describes their art practice to be ever shifting with the ebb and flow of healing and hopes their art can reinspire softness.

Michael Baja Anderson holds a BFA with an emphasis in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and finds strength within the soft arts. Weaving, soft sculpture, performance, video, installation, printmaking, and painting blend with research and writing to loosely define his ever-expanding practice. As a critical maker, his work is a ceremony of tension, contradiction, and release.

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Tags: Abbey Poniente Monsalud, Abby Linatoc Mendoza, Ash Nanoz, Chicago, COME AS YOU ARE: ON CARE FOR OURSELVES AND EACH OTHER, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Michael Baja Anderson, near west side