Maria Maea is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, performance, film & sound. Through her art practice, she deepens her connection to land, somatic memory, and ancestry. Her works act as a residue of her lived experience as a first generation Los Angeles native of mixed Samoan-Mexican heritage. Using plants and repurposed found material gathered throughout LA, Maea builds film set-like sculptures that relate to storytelling & myth-making. With experience in film production, she understands the invisible labor and processes that happen behind the scenes and creates figurative works that invite viewers into a cinematic universe of her own imagination.
Maea’s greatest inspiration and collaborator is nature itself. She has an ability to see plant matter’s potential to create new worlds as well as awaken us to our deeper human histories. “Plants have a body, we mimic it, it mimics us,” explains Maea. “I’ll use corn as a spine and people recognize it because we’re mirrors of nature.”
2023
MADE IN LA: Acts of Living — Hammer Museum
Exhibition: October 1, 2023 -December 31,2023
Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living is the sixth iteration of the Hammer’s biennial exhibition highlighting the practices of artists working throughout the greater Los Angeles area. These practices embrace the value of craft, materiality, performance, and collectivity. The biennial situates art as an expanded field of culture that is entangled with everyday life; community networks; queer affect; and indigenous and diasporic histories.
Distribuidx — Lisson Gallery, New York
June 29, 2023- August 11, 2023
Distribuidx, a group exhibition conceived as a conversation between the late Hélio Oiticica and a group of intergenerational artists with varying relationships to Latin America.
STARGAZER at The LA State Historic Park— LAND Nomadic Division
Exhibiting June 2023- September 2023
Over a 6-month project, Maria Maea wil collectively build with a youth working group a sculptural stargazing viewpoints at Historic State Park in Chinatown, LA.
Michelle Obama Library: Art LAB — Teaching Artist, Long Beach
Event: May 25, 2023
The Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) highlights Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture through a diverse array of free, public programs and events for all ages. Samoan Palm Weaving with Artist Maria Maea.
Hammer KAMP — Teaching Artist, Los Angeles
Event: May 21, 2023
K.A.M.P. (Kids’ Art Museum Project), an event that provides experiences for kids and their families with painters, sculptors, architects, and creative types of all kinds will lead inventive hands-on workshops.
Grant Recipient — ARTADIA Grant, Los Angeles
Announced: March 2023
New Clothes — Los Angeles City College , VAMA Gallery
Exhibition: April 23, 2023 - May 2, 2023
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Tanya Aguiniga, Mario Rios, Maria Maea
Artist- in-Residence — VETA Galleria Madrid, Spain
Project: January 20, 2023 - February 22, 2023
Grant Recipient — Mohn LAND Grant
Announced: January 2023
Grantees include artist Felix Quintana, Jackie Amézquita, & Star Feliz
PRESS:
Palm Fronds and Car Parts: Assemblage Art in Los Angeles
New York Times— by JORI FINKEL September 11, 2023
Review: Maria Maea
Art Forum— by Catherine Taft, February 2023 Vol. 61 No. 6
2022
Teaching Artist — Hammer Museum X Horace Mann High School
Project: October 2022 - December 2022
An 8-week project with 10 grade students at Horace Mann High School, facilitated by the Hammer Museum. Over the course of the project the students built artworks, paintings, sculptures, to exhibit in the museum. Focus question for the project: “What is resource?”
All In Time — Murmurs LA Solo Exhibition
Exhibition: October 28, 2022 - December 17, 2022
PACIFIC GOLD - OCMA x CABI22 California Biennial Inaugural Exhibit of the OC Museum
Exhibition: October 8, 2022 - February 26, 2023
OUTBURST PROJECTS — Palm Springs Museum Residency & Exhibition
Residency: July 1- August 5, 2022 Exhibition: August 6, 2022 - January 29, 2023
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Gabriela Ruiz, Karla Ekatherine Canseco, Maria Maea, Clara Nieblas, and Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya
ROSTRO — Charlie James Gallery, LA Group Exhibition
July 16- August 27
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Ozzie Juarez, Danie Cansino, M.A. Guerero, Rafa Esparza, Susan Aparicio, Shizu Saldamando
FROM ONE FETISH TO ANOTHER — Carlye Packer Gallery, LA Group Exhibition
July 1- August 5
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Adam Stamp, Cody Critcheloe, Mischa Palovski Andersen, Nihura Montiel, SerSerpas
AHORA — Tlaloc Studios curated show MUZEO, Group Exhibition
June 12 - July 24
‘AHORA’ showcases the work of 44 contemporary artists from around the world, with a focus on Southern California. Curated by Ozzie Juarez from Tlaloc Studios and Andrew Hosner from Thinkspace Projects.
RETRATO — Tlaloc Studios, Group Exhibition
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Gabriella Sanchez, Tidawhitney Lek, Haleijh Nickerson, Carlos Jaramillo, Shizu Saldamando, Javier Ruiz, Josh Vasquez, Erik Flores, Tim Lynch, Felix Galvan, Janeth Aparicio, Dulcito Soledad Ibarra and more.
Teaching Artist — HOLA Heart of Los Angeles
Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) gives underserved kids an equal chance to succeed through a comprehensive array of after-school academic, arts, athletics, and wellness programs. Maria Maea taught a weaving workshop to a group of elementary and middle school students.
RESPIRA — Charlie James Gallery for Shizu Saldamando, Featured Collaborator
Shizu Saldamando's second solo exhibition with Charlie James Gallery. This show is organized around a series of eight new portraits made during the Covid period that constitute a breakthrough in Saldamando’s painting practice, supported by a new video piece and a collaborative series of objects made with Los Angeles-based artist Maria Maea.
A Question of Vibrancy/ Earthly Sight — Eduardo Secci Gallery Group Exhibition
Florence, Italy
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Curated by Essence Harden. Works by Natalie Ball, Khari Johnson-Ricks, Azikiwe Mohammed, Devin N. Morris, Ambrose Rhapsody Murray, Elise Peterson, Adee Roberson, Khalif Tahir Thompson, and Maria Maea.
Guest Artist— UCLA Visiting Artists Lecture Series
February 4th Maria Maea gave a lecture on her art practice for UCLA MFA Students & performed studio Visits with first and second-year students in the program.
PRESS:
In artist Maria Maea’s hands, the palm is much more than a plant — it’s a medium
Los Angeles Times, CALENDAR Cover story— by Samanta Helou Hernandez December 9, 2022
When a Solo Exhibition Is Created by a Community
Hyperallergic —- by Joelle E. Mendoza (JEM) December 6, 2022
5 Artists to Watch at the California Biennial
New York Times —- by Jonathan Griffin October 20, 2022
Maria Maea Connects Geographical Histories Through Natural Materials
Cultured Magazine —- by César García-Alvarez October 11, 2022
When it comes to my art, I’m not trying to turn out a figure
LA Times Image, Cover story —- by RAFA ESPARZA August 17, 2022
2021
FOLK MEDIC II: PANACEA — Subliminal Projects Group Exhibition
December 11, 2021 - January 8, 2022
FOLK MEDIC II: PANACEA asks how medicine is an alchemic act of communal practice and how a physical site might become a salve. Medicine here is harbored in artworks of light, sound, landscape, hue, fibers, flora, and proclamation.
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Adee Roberson, Ako Castuera, Devon Tsuno, Eric Johnson-Acevedo, Eunsoo Jeong, Hellen Jo, Jeffrey Cheung, Josh Cloud, Kris Chau, Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin, Mano Ya, Maria Maea, and Rob Sato.
ISLANDS IN THE MATRIX: Step Into the Light — MOCA TUCSON Performance
December 4th Maria Maea and Micaela Tobin activate the current exhibition were-:Nenetech Forms through sound, voice, movement and shadow. The audience becomes collaborators in waking the spirit with the artworks- engaged play as collective healing.
OURS — LaPau Gallery Solo Exhibition
OURS is an installation that investigates life cycles through her harvesting of plants and weaving of family histories. Over a span of two years, Maea has kept a garden, cultivating it and bearing the fruits of her harvest. Maea’s figures shift back and forth from plant to human to tapestry; an amalgamation of materiality that is natural, industrial, and familial.
Paul Brach Visiting Artist Lecture Series — CAL ARTS University
October 2021. Artist Lecture and MFA studio visits
CITY TOO HOT — Group Exhibition, Los Angeles Arts District
Artist Curators Diana Alvarado & Alfonso Gonzalez
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Maria Maea, Aaron Estrada, Alex Smells, Yana Minai, Saj Issa, Chris Lux, Daniel Gibson, Savannah Claudia Levin, Neidy, Michael Alvarez, and Nikkolos Mohammed
BAKUNAWA: OPERA OF THE SEVEN MOONS — REDCAT Theater
Singer and composer Micaela Tobin- on her latest release, 'BAKUNAWA' a cinematic homage to the pre-colonial mythology of her motherland, the Philippines. Maria Maea acted as weaver, prop master, and set dresser for the film and pre-production process. Maea and Tobin had weekly weaving sessions for the month leading up to the shoot, the movement and sound of these sessions aided in the creation of scores for the opera.
WEAVING WANDERER PRACTICUM WORKSHOP — CAL ARTS University Workshop
Invited teaching Artist. Maea taught students the basics of weaving and to explore our cities as material. Through our virtual collective we forage our natural and unnatural landscapes as a means of gathering resources and questioning our place as makers in these uncertain times.
2020
WE LIVE! Memories of Resistance — Oxy Arts Group Exhibition
Women’s Worth/ Work by Maria Maea
The first IN PLAIN SIGHT exhibition following the initial skywriting activation over Independence Day weekend 2020. Curated by Paulina Lara & Kyle Stephan
Works by Maria Maea, Felipe Baeza, Margarita Cabrera, Sonya Clark, Beatriz Cortez, Sky Hopinka, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Alberto Lule, Karen Martinez, Guadalupe Rosales, Dread Scott, Tina Takemoto, and Devon Tsuno
For The Love of LA - Music Center & Dublab Digital Performance Series
Original film COATLICUE by San Cha & Maria Maea presented by the MUSIC CENTER, Curated by Quarantine Gallery
Original works by 35 LA-based musicians, dancers, photographers, & artists. The artworks created express each artist’s view of LA & reflect the current times.
IN PLAIN SIGHT #XMAP — Nationwide Art Action
Sky type text by Julio Salgado & Maria Maea over Adelanto Detention Center. First Sky written message of the collective action. IN PLAIN SIGHTis a nationwide art intervention/ collaboration with 80 artists, activists, and organizations. Initial action was a national skywriting campaign over Independence Day weekend 2020.
Lead artists Rafa Esparza & Cassils
SOUND & MOVEMENT PRACTICUM — CAL ARTS University Workshop
Teaching artist Maria Maea’s Sound & Movement workshop focused on deep listening as a mode of performance. Students used movement and field recording to create compositions.
CAL ARTS offers a variety of technical workshops for BFAs designed to provide short-term, high-intensity skills training to the undergraduate.
2019
Women’s Worth / Work —— Sculpture
LA FONTS
L.A. Fonts is a site specific gathering of artists from Los Angeles in a backyard in East L.A.
Works by Maria Maea, Carlos Agredano, Diana Yesenia Alvarado, Michael Alvarez, Mario Ayala, Rafa Cardenas, Carolyn Castaño , Mar Citlali, Karla Diaz, Rafa esparza, Alfonso Gonzalez Jr., Sebastian Hernandez , Ej Hill, Ellie Lee, Jaime Muńoz, Guadalupe Rosales, Gabriela Ruiz, Shizu Saldamando , Gabriela Sanchez, Mario Ybarra Jr
Curated by Alfonso Gonzales Jr. & Rafa Esparza
In Between Dreams —— Film
COMIDA A MANO, Coaxial Arts + Current LA: Food
Short film In Between Dreams. This dreamscape tells the story of Tina (mom) and Tama (dad) as witnessed by 3 generations of women. This project services as a tool for generational wealth creation. By giving my niece, sister and mom the creative agency to answer - “how do we eat?” we’ve created a sonic and visual family landscape- reflecting our existence as multicultural.
Life Goes On ——- Living Sculpture, Performance
BEAK, Music Video Director Alfredo Lopez
Production designer, costumer, character creation and durational performer.
I Feel Like We Were Always Here ——- Installation, 7 Bust
DEEP WATERS, Residency Gallery
February - March 2019. Curators and facilitators as artists. Exhibition exploring the here and now as liminal space- situated between the wounded histories of our ancestors and a collective memory of a future shaped by our hand.
Works by JEM, Andre Keichian, Karla Ekatherine Canseco, Savannah Wood, Ellie Lee, Noe Olivas and Maria Maea. Curated by Maria Maea
PERFORMANCES
MUSCLE HOUSE COOKBOOK — Recipe writer + performer
Human Resources Gallery, CURRENT LA: FOOD November 2019
NEMETON —— Human Resources Gallery, Performance by Jennie Liu March 2019
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
When I Came To, Coaxial Arts Foundation 2018
Previously Invisible to Me, Club Pro Gallery 2017
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
CITY TOO HOT, 702 Traction Ave. Arts District 2021
LA FONTS, Site specific exhibition in East Los Angeles Backyard 2019
GRAND PARK’S OUR LA VOICES: Arts & Culture Fest, Residency Art Gallery 2019
Deep Waters: A Collective Body (Artist/Curator), Residency Art Gallery 2019 Pasado Mañana, Commonwealth & Council Gallery 2018
RESIDENCIES
Coaxial Arts Foundation Artist in Residency May 2018
Showbox LA Residency 2017-2018
PUBLICATIONS + PRESS
LATINX: Art Angels DAZED MAGAZINE, August 2018
LA PHIL AT 100 Score for Recognizing A New Music, 2018
Performance + Documentation by Lucky Dragons