maiawilliams

[maiawilliams]

Mai’a is an interdisciplinary artist who primarily works in sculpture, performance, installation, poetry and prose. Their studio, curatorial and research-based practice weaves together their identity as a queer Muslim and a daughter of First Nations and Black American lineages, as well as their experience as a midwife and a mother.  Their work is a response to revolutionary mothering, global Black death, their African and First Nations ancestry and joy. It is a reflection of living and working with Egyptian, Palestinian, Congolese, and Central American Indigenous mothers in resistance communities for more than 15 years. 

[maiawilliams]

Photos and video stills from the installation/performance work, ‘Bodies of the Desert’, 2018

Bodies of the Desert, November 2018 performance/installation at Public Launch (Winona, MN). I designed an installation that included textile arts, video arts and performed an hour-long spoken word performance about migration from Africa to Europe, Homer’s Odyssey, and anti-Blackness. 

[maiawilliams]

Video stills from ‘Bodies of the Desert’, 2018

[maiawilliams]

Photos and video stills from the installation/performance ‘Last Prayer Before Sunrise’, February and March 2020

Last Prayer Before Sunrise, 2020 performance/installation at Watkins Gallery (Winona, MN). I designed a month-long installation that included photographs, sculpture, music, video arts, and poetry. I did two hour-long spoken word performances accompanied by live and recorded music. 

[maiawilliams]

Video stills from the ‘Last Prayer Before Sunrise’, 2020

[maiawilliams]

Video stills from ‘Last Prayer Before Sunrise II’, 2020