MAY MAYLISA CAT
info@maymaylisacat.com
Photo by Celina Flores Photography
BIO
May Maylisa Cat is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans new media, performance art, sculpture, and installation. Her projects have received support from the Franklin Furnace Fund; Oregon Arts Commission; Open Signal New Media Fellowship; and Regional Arts and Culture Council of Portland, OR. In June 2022, Cat earned the Lilla Jewel Award, named in honor of the artist, radical feminist and suffragist, Lilla Jewel, for advancing a social change message through her work. She is a recipient of the 2022 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship.
In 2024, Cat emceed “16:9–Reframing Glass,” a glass film festival at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, WI. Cat has attended residencies at Chautauqua Visual Arts, Santa Fe Art Institute, Fountainhead Arts, Pilchuck Glass School, Wassaic Project, Caldera Arts, and many others. She has spoken as a guest lecturer for Carnegie Mellon University School of Fine Art in Pittsburgh, PA; Yale School of Art in New Haven, CT; and Cooper Union in New York, NY.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Using parody and queer archive activism, my work lies at the intersection of food culture, racialized labor, and identity. Clashing cultural references, raising awareness, and connecting the personal to the political are all tactics within my work. I unravel hidden social dynamics and critique power by creating my own fictional systems. I use food culture to interrogate consumption methods while drawing on queer feminist archive activism to insert myself into a patriarchal context that did not previously historicize my humanity or make spaces for me. My work spans new media, performance art, sculpture, and installation.
Gratefully acknowledging the following supporters & collaborators:
Alliance of Artists Communities
Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts + the Calligram Foundation
Bunker Projects
Caldera Arts
Chautauqua Visual Arts
Ford Family Foundation
Fountainhead Residency
Franklin Furnace Archive
Glean Portland + Cracked Pot + Metro + Recology Center
Jack Straw Cultural Center
Open Signal
Oregon Arts Commission
Pittsburgh Glass Center
Precipice Fund
Pilchuck Glass School
Regional Arts and Culture Council of Portland, OR
Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts
Santa Fe Art Institute
Stelo Arts
Tender Table
Wassaic Project
Photography credits & tech support:
Celina Flores Photography
Tojofotos
Alex Nuñez
Filmografik Productions
Mario Gallucci Photography
Porter Loves
Sam Gehrke Photography