Eilen Itzel Mena
Adrian Carruthers Award
2025
Eilen Itzel Mena's visual arts practice is deeply rooted in documenting a femme afro-diasporic intersectional experience. She focuses on depicting growth and transformation through an understanding of community, ancestry, purpose and the connection between the child self and the adult self. She is interested in investigating the way that folks in the African Diaspora are in pursuit of joy as well as their personal and communal purpose through using a variety of materials. She uses painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation and performance as tools for the pursuit of joy.
In 2017, Eilen was awarded a BA in Fine Art from the USC Roski School of Art & Design. This past June, she received an MFA in Painting from the UCL Slade School of Fine Art. She has shown my work internationally and have also received various artist grants.
Adrian Carruthers Award
The Adrian Carruthers Award is a partnership between Acme and the Slade School of Fine Art, funded by Acme and the Adrian Carruthers Memorial Fund. Aiming to provide a bridge between art school and professional practice, the award includes a generous bursary, rent-free studio space and a mentoring programme. Recipients of Acme’s Early Career Awards Programme work from shared studios in order to encourage an environment of peer support and critical dialogue.
