May Maylisa Cat
Portland, OR
March 2-31, 2021
BIO
May Maylisa Cat is a multidisciplinary artist whose work lies at the intersection of food culture, racialized labor, and identity. Her work spans new media, painting, glass, and performance. She grew up in Chicago, IL and graduated from Cooper Union School of Art in New York, NY. Her projects have received support from The Franklin Furnace Fund; Precipice Fund; Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant; Open Signal New Media Fellowship; and the Regional Arts and Culture Council of Portland.
Recent exhibitions include GLEAN, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland, OR, 2020 and Karmic I, a multi-screen immersive installation at Open Signal, Portland, OR, 2019. May has attended residencies at Chautauqua Visual Arts, Wassaic Project, Santa Fe Art Institute, Caldera Arts, Glean Portland, and Pittsburgh Glass Center. She will be in future residencies at c3:initiative and New Media Gallery Residency, Jack Straw Cultural Center. She has spoken as a guest lecturer for Carnegie Mellon University School of Fine Art in Pittsburgh, PA and as a teaching artist for Caldera Arts in Sisters, OR.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Using parody and queer archive activism, my work lies at the intersection of food culture, racialized labor, and identity. I unravel hidden social dynamics and critique power by creating my own systems. My work plays a critical role on the dominant discourses towards the community, the fantasy of the cultural “Other,” and how contemporary art appropriated non-western social imaginaries, bringing them to a diluted, universal conception of art.
ARTIST LINKS
Website: maymaylisacat.cargo.site
Instagram: @maymaylisacatz