ARTIST STATEMENT

My work grows from three intertwined roots: the fragile state of our planet, the layered inheritance of my Chinese Panamanian identity, and the intimate yet often silenced journey of menopause. These concerns guide how I see the world and how I choose to respond through art.

For many years, I painted the language of nature—lush landscapes, threatened ecosystems, and the delicate balance of life—exclusively with the palette knife. Yet the pandemic, and the rise of anti-Asian violence, especially the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, fractured that silence. Suddenly, the urgency of identity could no longer be ignored. My series Reflections on Awakening, monumental canvases of waterlilies, became a meditation on grief and a search for inner peace, where each floating leaf mirrored the resilience of survival.

Born in Panama to Chinese ancestors and now living in the United States, I exist at the crossroads of belonging and displacement. My installations transform everyday objects into vessels of memory and meaning: family photographs shaped like lily pads, porcelain spoons carrying whispers of shared meals, incense smoke rising in ritual offering. In these works, the intimate becomes collective, honoring traditions while opening space for dialogue across cultures.

Menopause has also marked a profound shift in my practice. In a world reluctant to name or discuss this transition, I created In the Absence of Blood, a monumental installation of 1,000 flowers made with over 32,000 sanitary pads. What was once hidden became a public meditation on femininity, resilience, and renewal.

Since founding Palette Knife Artists of Miami in 2013, I have continued to nurture artists and advocate for our planet, curating exhibitions that confront ecological fragility, especially within South Florida.

I hope my work becomes a sanctuary of remembrance and resistance—a place where the quiet beauty of complexity is celebrated.

BIOGRAPHY

MaiYap is a multidisciplinary Panamanian-born artist of Chinese descent. After Hurricane Andrew and the birth of her daughter in 1992, she discovered painting as a way to speak about her experiences and navigate change, developing her own visual language through innovative materials. Her work explores memory, identity, and transformation, integrating tradition and contemporaneity. She paints exclusively with palette knives and incorporates everyday objects from her multicultural background to explore her roots, highlighting the strength of family bonds, discrimination against Asians, and reproductive justice.

She has received major recognitions such as the Green Space Miami Award 2024 and has presented solo exhibitions in international institutions, including: A House of Small Altars” at Edge Zones Miami, Florida (2026), Sustrato at the Municipal Museum of Cartago, Costa Rica (2024); Eco-Aesthetics in Motion at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas, Miami, Florida (2024); Génesis at the Favalora Museum of St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida (2022); and Progenie at the GAC Motor Gallery, Panama (2022).

Between 2007 and 2022, she taught multiple art courses at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. Since 2013, she has been the founder and director of Palette Knife Artists of Miami, a collective dedicated to promoting the use of the palette knife and raising environmental awareness through art. Since 2024, MaiYap assumed the volunteer position of Director of Biscayne National Park Dante Fascell Visitors Center's art gallery.

MaiYap earned her degree in Advertising and Graphic Design from the University of Georgia. She currently lives and works in Miami, Florida.