C V
F O R E V E R I N P R O G R E S S
2026 Artist Statement:
My current body of work is a love letter to the values that were gifted to me by my parents. I was taught at a young age to stand up for what I believe in and to find creative ways to bring people together. Across all spaces that I occupy as a multimedia artist and organizer, I am committed to sharing my personal stories of grief and transformation as a way to remind ourselves of our inherent connection as humans. My installations ask the viewer to see themselves in the work and engage in it by answering prompts about their lives. When we see everyone’s answers together within the artwork, it’s hard to ignore our similarities and connection. I choose mediums that have a history of community involvement such as printmaking and mural to root the concepts in practice. Often the subjects in my work are more tangible - like words or portraits - to support people from all generations and walks of life to more easily see themselves in the work, or at least have a more clear entrance to engage with the work. My work has been shown at OMCA, SFMoMA, Eastside Arts Alliance, Kearny Street Workshop and YBCA
Archived Artist Statement:
Malaya Tuyay was born on Chumash land (small town Carpinteria), but now works and lives on Ohlone Territory (Bay Area). She channels the legacies of print and textile mediums to share her experience with trauma and her process of loving the different intersections of her queer mixed Pilpinx-American identity. She draws from this personal experience of losing her mother at a young age to create real and tactile objects out of grief. Her craftwork—particularly sewing and printmaking— is inspired by and in deference to the history of marginalized groups who often used these mediums to pass on their own stories, which are not retold or recognized in the canonical history classes of western institutions. In exhibiting work, she seeks to initiate conversations with others in the process of defining their own identities and to bring people together to exchange personal histories and collectively empower each other to create a radically new world. She further embodies this ethos by mobilizing her art practice in support of mutual aid organizing in the Bay Area and international advocacy work supporting frontline environmental defenders in Mindanao, Philippines.
(statement edited by Ant Lore)
photo taken by Jess Alvarenga
F O R E V E R I N P R O G R E S S
2026 Artist Statement:
My current body of work is a love letter to the values that were gifted to me by my parents. I was taught at a young age to stand up for what I believe in and to find creative ways to bring people together. Across all spaces that I occupy as a multimedia artist and organizer, I am committed to sharing my personal stories of grief and transformation as a way to remind ourselves of our inherent connection as humans. My installations ask the viewer to see themselves in the work and engage in it by answering prompts about their lives. When we see everyone’s answers together within the artwork, it’s hard to ignore our similarities and connection. I choose mediums that have a history of community involvement such as printmaking and mural to root the concepts in practice. Often the subjects in my work are more tangible - like words or portraits - to support people from all generations and walks of life to more easily see themselves in the work, or at least have a more clear entrance to engage with the work. My work has been shown at OMCA, SFMoMA, Eastside Arts Alliance, Kearny Street Workshop and YBCA
Archived Artist Statement:
Malaya Tuyay was born on Chumash land (small town Carpinteria), but now works and lives on Ohlone Territory (Bay Area). She channels the legacies of print and textile mediums to share her experience with trauma and her process of loving the different intersections of her queer mixed Pilpinx-American identity. She draws from this personal experience of losing her mother at a young age to create real and tactile objects out of grief. Her craftwork—particularly sewing and printmaking— is inspired by and in deference to the history of marginalized groups who often used these mediums to pass on their own stories, which are not retold or recognized in the canonical history classes of western institutions. In exhibiting work, she seeks to initiate conversations with others in the process of defining their own identities and to bring people together to exchange personal histories and collectively empower each other to create a radically new world. She further embodies this ethos by mobilizing her art practice in support of mutual aid organizing in the Bay Area and international advocacy work supporting frontline environmental defenders in Mindanao, Philippines.
(statement edited by Ant Lore)
photo taken by Jess Alvarenga