MAKERS OF MIDTOWN LAUNCHES FIRST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCY PROGRAM WITH PILOT EXHIBITION
Makers of Midtown, an SEC-registered non-profit organization working to strengthen
and build a stronger and more sustainable creative ecosystem in Cebu City’s Midtown
District, has launched its pilot Artist Residency Program in partnership with Cebu
Making Space and The Tea & Gallery.
The program provides emerging Cebuano artists with time, space, resources,
mentorship, and technical support to develop their practice. Residents gain access to
Cebu Making Space’s fully-equipped makerspace, dedicated studio, and the opportunity
to conclude their residency with a public exhibition of their work.
From Internship Application to Artist Residency
The first resident, young Cebuano artist Kaye, initially applied for an internship at Cebu
Making Space. Recognizing an opportunity to support her artistic practice, the team
instead offered her a place in the residency program.
Under the mentorship and curatorship of Jude Crisostomo (Monochaotic), Kaye went
through the residency application, proposal review, and interview process before
spending three months developing a new body of work.
Her residency concluded with Soft Bodies, Tender Creatures: Staying Still, an exhibition
exploring queer identity, the body, vulnerability, and self-recognition.
Staying Still: Coming Out, Coming In
Kaye’s residency concluded with Soft Bodies, Tender Creatures: Staying Still, an
exhibition that explores the space between coming out and coming in, which is the
quieter, more internal process that follows becoming visible to others.
The series features oil paintings on translucent chiffon and tulle, using visibility and
concealment as visual elements. The works trace a personal movement through
questioning, desire, intimacy, loss, searching, stillness, and reclamation.
Staying Still looks at the ways internalized guilt, beliefs, and expectations can shape the
understanding of queer identity and the body. Across a series of oil paintings on
translucent chiffon and tulle, the feminine body becomes a site of vulnerability, desire,uncertainty, and self-recognition.The works move through questioning, desire, intimacy,
loss, searching, stillness, and eventually reclamation.
Rather than treating coming out as a final act of self-discovery, Kaye considers it as a
beginning: the beginning of coming in, or learning to stay with oneself long enough to
understand, reclaim, and fully inhabit the self. The translucent fabric becomes an
important part of this conversation. The bodies are visible, but never completely
exposed. Thin layers of oil challenge the traditional opacity of the medium, creating
surfaces where concealment and visibility exist at the same time.
Creating Space for Creative Practice
The Artist Residency Program responds to a need within Cebu’s creative community:
providing artists with sustained access to the space, resources, and support needed to
develop their practice beyond individual exhibitions or events.
During her residency, Kaye had access to the fully-functional makerspace facility, a
dedicated studio, and technical support from the Making Space and White Brick teams,
including assistance with the production and installation of her works and other exhibit
requirements.
For Makers of Midtown, the residency is a step toward building a more sustainable
environment for Cebuano artists. One that gives creatives the opportunity to develop
work, access resources, connect with a creative community, and share their work with
an audience.
Kaye’s residency serves as the pilot for a program that Makers of Midtown hopes to
continue developing as part of its broader work to support Cebu’s artists, makers, and
creative community. Catch Kaye’s exhibit at The Tea & Gallery until Oct. 3, 2026. For
more Makers of Midterm updates, visit www.makersofmidtown.org or follow Makers of
Midtown on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/makersofmidtown/
Photos by: Monochaotic
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