Curatorial
Mentorships.

Eden Menta X
Stella Sideli

This mentorship project has been wonderful to work on. Working with Eden has brought me a lot of joy - they are a volcano of creative ideas. We connected especially when talking about creating safe spaces for queer and non-binary artists with disabilities, and Eden is doing amazing work for raising awareness of this matter through their work.

- Stella Sideli

Curatorial Mentorships pair an artist working from a supported studio with a professional curator as a mentor to produce and contextualise a digital project.

Over the months of October and November 2021, European based curator and researcher Stella Sideli worked with artist Eden Menta for Art et al.'s first Curatorial Mentorship. Menta works from the Melbourne studio, Arts Project Australia, a creative social enterprise that supports artists with intellectual disabilities, promotes their work, and advocates for their inclusion in contemporary art practice.

Stella and Eden met virtually for mentorship sessions discussing the process of selecting artists for a project and forming a theme of ideas. Expanding the scope of professional development the mentorship was also a trusted space for discussions around queerness, gender identity, and disability. The outcome is Minty Visions, a thoughtful and interactive project by Eden supported by the mentorship with Stella.

Eden Menta (b 1994, Melbourne) is an emerging artist who works across various mediums including photography, collage, drawing and painting. Their work is instinctive and subject to change depending on their state of mind in any given moment. Interests woven through Eden's work include pop culture, self-portraiture and an intense insect curiosity. Edgy and instilled with wry humour, Eden's work encompasses the macabre as well as observations of the world around them. Eden has worked in the Arts Project Australia studio since 2013. They have exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in Melbourne including Centre for Contemporary Photography, Brunswick Street Gallery, No Vacancy and Gertrude Glasshouse in Melbourne, as well as the Ballarat Foto Biennale. Their work is held in private and corporate collections throughout Australia.

Stella Sideli is an independent curator, researcher, consultant and coach in the arts, based in London and working in the UK, Europe and the Mediterranean. Her research focuses on feminist, queer theories and the ethics of curating; she also researches the shapeshifting meaning of materiality in the current ultra connected human condition, with attention to images, sound and movement. She has curated public and artist development programmes at Somerset House, SPACE Studios and Tenderpixel gallery in London UK.

Recent projects include: Temporary Compositions, with Abbas Zahedi, Phoebe Davies, Joe Namy, Sonya Dyer, Somerset House, London UK (2021-2022); Create, Capture, Organise, Pluralise, with Josiane M.H. Pozi, Majed Aslam, Ilona Sagar, Col Self in collaboration with Farvash and vvxxii (Sp0re), Somerset House, London UK (2021); I Should Be Doing Something Else Right Now, with Maeve Brennan, Vivienne Griffin, rkss & Laura Fox, Rhea Storr, Sam Williams & Roly Porter, Somerset House, London UK (2020-2021); The Distance is Nowhere, with Paul Maheke, Sophie Mallett, GAM Palermo IT (2018); Nimiia Cétiï, Jenna Sutela, Somerset House, London UK (both 2018).

Eden Menta & Stella Sideli on Minty Visions hosted by Art et al.

Highlights from a discussion between Eden Menta, Stella Sideli and Art et al.’s Lisa Slominski on Minty Visions and the Curatorial Mentorship. Listen as they discuss the elements of the digital project, why Eden responds to sound and the importance of including friends in your work.