Following 5 years of research, interviews, and story circles, this interdisciplinary project transforms eight personal disability narratives / interrogations of urban infrastructure into mythical landscapes, reimagining the origins of our “broken” bodies and cities beyond internalized colonial influence. Told through short episodes, dioramas, quilted tapestries, written tales, and audioscapes, this work aims to defy and invert what Maya considers the American "mythocracy."
The work will be presented as an immersive exhibition, and ultimately archived and released on its own immersive AR website.
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Forthcoming exhibition: December 2025, at Nikki Gallery in New Orleans, LA.
The Architect
storyteller ro keel
VIsual impairment / oculocutaneous albinism
This Myth tells the story of the Mutants and the Wings, who once coexisted peacefully in a city that touched both sky and soil. Scared away by the Mutants and their inability to see or touch sunlight, the Wings exile them to tunnels beneath the Earth, where they proceed to use their magic and intuitive gifts to build a world for themselves. Years later, when the sun is swallowed by a dark cloud, the Wings beg the Mutants to come back and guide them to survival. The Mutants agree, but reject the offer to come back to live among them, having finally built a world no one could take from them.
The foremother of children returning from exile
storyteller tamah yisrael
This myth tells the origin story of a celestial diety, who rules a small planet closest to the sun. As a young girl in her human life, she never felt she fit in. Her mother--who acted as her angel and confidant-- told her: "you are different. you are special. embrace it." As sweet as her mother was, the girl watched her over the years battle with abusive relationships. Later, as the young girl grew to be a young woman, she too faced the wrath of abuse, until shortly after her mother's death, she couldn't take it anymore. She claimed a new faith and a new name: Tamah- the foremother of children returning from exile.
In the afterlife, she soon learns that the name was not newly chosen- it was always hers. It was always her destiny to embrace her difference, her full celestial self, and rain gold onto the hands and ears of exiles still on earth, who would soon find her and be all they never got to be.
The Reflector
storyteller maya pen
narcolepsy
This Myth tells the story of a mother, laying on her death bed, whose barely tethered body works its hardest to cling to Earth in order to give her daughter a chance to say her goodbyes.
Ascended too soon, the mother makes a trade with the Goddess of Death-- to go back to her body for 5 more minutes in exchange for full and peaceful passage to the other side.
Editorial Series
Clips, photos, and BTS from other projects from this series.
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