Heresy by Marcelline Mandeng Nken
September, 2026
Penélope Archive presents Heresy, an installation by artist Marcelline Mandeng Nken.
Heresy puts the figure of the night time social worker into focus, displaying pairs of transparent high heels arranged in various dance foot formations as symbolic stand-ins for absent bodies. Drawing from the impossibility of putting yourself in someone else's shoes, the Cinderella trope is reified to illuminate the struggles of street-working women who perform invisible acts of intimate labor in order to survive. Each pair of shoes is accompanied by a «Miss [X]» title, echoing the pageantry of strolling, followed by a pop culture reference that alludes to the feminine sacrifice inherent to self-determination and communal devotion.
The seven pairs of shoes presented in the installation will be released as a limited edition of seven unique works, individually titled «Miss Single Black Female Addicted To Retail», «Miss Staring At The Dark But Their Eyes Are Watching God», «Miss Behaving», «Miss Perfect 10s (Face, Body and Sex Appeal)», «Miss 8 And Feeling Unseen, 9 And Feeling Unloved», «Miss Lady Sings The Blues», and «Miss Touch Me Not».
The edition will be available at penelopearchive.com following the end of the installation in late October.
Part of Penélope Archive's ongoing curatorial programme for the paloma wool window, now on view at our space on Av. Diagonal 358, 08013, Barcelona.
Marcelline Mandeng Nken (b. 1993, Yaoundé, Cameroon) is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, installation, new media, text, and performance. Her practice investigates how diasporic care and maintenance traditions shape conditions of belonging, especially within queer and trans lifeworlds, where home is assembled through chosen kinship.
Mandeng Nken was a 2025 Dance Research Fellow at the New York Public Library's Jerome Robbins Dance Division. She is a grantee of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Leeway Foundation, and a former resident of Skowhegan, Goethe Institut Boston, Whistle Space Summer Institute, Vermont Studio Center, and SOMA Summer. Her work has been presented at MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, Judson Memorial Church, Mercer Union, Karma International, Cibrian, FringeArts, MCA Chicago, and Córdova. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Art.
Penélope Archive is a publishing project that reimagines iconography through artistic editions. Co-founded by artist Carlota Guerrero and researcher Mariona Valdés Torrella, it represents an act of symbolic reparation, born from a desire to expand visual narratives and challenge hegemonic representations.
The collection currently includes works by artists such as Carlijn Jacobs, Cristina BanBan, Rosalía, Suwon Lee, and Carlota Guerrero, alongside emerging artists including Athen&Nina, Julia de Ruvo, or Isabella Benshimol, and will continue to grow over time.