Mansy
Abesamis

Mansy’s work for the Quezon City Biennial features a jar for brewing homemade vinegar, a staple at turo-turo stalls and street food corners. Here, the vinegar is not just a condiment but a witness. It watches as hands reach for fishballs, kwek-kwek, or barbecue, as stories are exchanged over plastic cups. Slowly fermenting over time, the vinegar absorbs its surroundings—just like the city absorbs its people. Sharp, alive, and quietly transforming.

Statement: Another jar which this jar holds green mangoes submerged in brine, is inspired by the familiar tang of burong mangga often sold in plastic cups along the busy streets of Cubao. Like life in the streets, what appears still on the surface is quietly transforming underneath. The vessel mirrors the quiet ferment of Cubao’s layered street life: restless and always alive.

Mansy Abesamis is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in the Philippine Islands. Often utilising intricate papercut installations and hand-built ceramics, her work invites viewers to reconnect with themselves, their senses, and one another.

Her current practice explores time-based processes, where jars and vessels become more than containers—they act as collaborators: hosting microbial life, marking time, and holding the quiet transformations of daily life. She investigates how art can extend beyond static form and into living ecosystems that reflect the unseen rhythms of cities and communities.

Lately, she has been focused on community-centered initiatives in Siargao Island, where she founded the island’s first pottery and silversmithing studios. There, she continues to train and upskill local women to be artisans. Her evolving body of work reflects her belief that art is not only something we make, but something we live through and pass on.