Cibelle Mancinni -

Education & background:

Despite being less known internationally than contemporaries like Rosângela Rennó or Adriana Varejão, Mancinni’s work offers a unique feminist perspective on material culture in São Paulo’s periphery. This paper draws on interviews and exhibition reviews to position her within debates on “artivism” and archival practices. cibelle mancinni

Her breakout series, Decay as Decoration (2021-2023), featured large-scale "paintings" that contained no paint at all. Instead, she grew mold and mycelium on stretched canvases, then encased the rot in glass and gold leaf. Critics were divided: some called it a disgusting gimmick; others, a profound meditation on the futility of preserving beauty. Mancinni herself shrugged. “We spend billions trying to stop time,” she told me, lighting a cigarette with a match she struck on a dried cactus. “But rot is just life changing its clothes.” Instead, she grew mold and mycelium on stretched