Maiya Lea Hartman, Artist-in-Residence
Maiya Lea Hartman is a Painter, Mixed-media artist, and Muralist living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Maiya’s practice draws from personal memories and moments that examine identity, expression, and the body through the lens of a Queer, Black, Non-binary person. Their practice is intimate, touching on the innocence of childhood and examining the pressures of gender performativity through family portraits and self-portraiture. The memories and feelings they draw from are recontextualized by placing the figures in undefined landscapes, allowing their body language and facial expressions to communicate messages. Maiya explores ancestral influences by using mixed-media materials such as braiding hair, fabric, and hand-carved Adinkra symbols. The use of such materials paying homage to the weight and history they hold in African-American identities as traditions we have held onto from our African Ancestors. Maiya currently holds a studio space in PF Studio #285 in the Northrup King Building. They were part of the initial cohort of artists in Studio400, a studio program for emerging artists formed in 2019 by Leslie Barlow and Public Functionary. Since the summer, they have created several public art projects in collaboration with Creatives After Curfew, a collective creating public art that visions a future rooted in Justice, Unity, and Liberation for BIPOC.