Maya Pen Raquel
Artist & Organizer
Maya is a community-taught interdisciplinary artist and organizer based in New Orleans.
Her artwork gives voice to personal and collective histories through mythology across SPFX, costume, scenic arts, photography, film, writing, and sound. Her work as an organizer and as an artist intersect in the space of magical realism; using creature, costume, and scenic construction to reimagine our stories and geographies; visualizing the imagination needed to create new worlds through film; demystifying solidarity economies through community art making; using story creation processes to heal from grief.
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She believes in storytelling as connective tissue, in grotesque lifeforms, in using magic to build resonance without re-traumatizing the humans at the center of recurring tragedies. Her myth-making is invested in the reckoning with our crying earth, romance amidst apocalypse, and retelling the origins of our cities, bodies, dreams, and homes.
Maya's recent creature photography and mixed media art has been displayed at galleries such as the Southern Exposure gallery (San Francisco), Bark gallery (Berlin), and Staple Goods gallery (New Orleans). Her writing appears in publications such as Tilted House Review and Metal Hurlant.
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She has had the pleasure of participating and learning from local programs such as New Orleans Film Festival’s Emerging Voices fellowship, and is a recent winner of South Pitch, where she received the Warner Brothers' Innovation Hub award for her feature length screenplay, “Flammable Water.”
As co-director of the film production collective Studio Lalala, Maya seeks to provide free studio space, equipment access, and film education for photographers and filmmakers of color. Through her work with Cooperation New Orleans, she helps organize the support of Black and Indigenous worker-owned cooperatives. Maya also serves on the editorial staff for the literature collective Tilted House, and is a member of Latinx art collective, Collectiva Manos.
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exhibitions & performance
Afuera, Adentro, Antenna Gallery
Group Gallery Show - Artist
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We've Been Among You, Staple Goods
Solo Gallery Show - Artist
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Bark Berlin Gallery
Group Show - Artist
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We've Been Among You, Southern Exposure
Solo Gallery Show - Artist
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Mary Beth Hotel & Gallery
Art Curator
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The Songs We Left Behind, The Kimmel Center
Writer and Performer
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Portal Juice, Art Klub
artist | creative director
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Tongue in Cheek, Headlong Studios
curator | artist
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One Fest, One Love Community Center
writer | director | producer
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Future Is Female Festival, Headlong Studios Philadelphia
Contributing monologue writer/director
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A Laced Late Night Experiment on Post Humanism
Contributing playwright
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New Voices Festival, Temple University
playwright
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Young Voices Festival, Drake Theater
playwright
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The Agency, Myvision Theater Ensemble
playwright | director | scenic designer
projects & community
2024
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2023
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2023
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2023​​
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2023
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2019
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2018
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2017
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2018
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2017
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2017
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2015
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2016
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2015
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2019 - ongoing
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2023 - ongoing
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2024
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2020-2023
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2020-ongoing
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2022-ongoing
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2018-2020
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2018
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2015-2016
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2016-2020
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2020
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2017
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Studio Lalala - QTBIPOC film production cooperative | New Orleans
Codirector
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Colectiva Manos - Latin American arts collective | New Orleans
Member
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Beloved Community Incubator - Solidarity Economy Movement Organization | Washington, DC
Participatory Action Research Cohort Member​
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Tilted House - Small Press Literature Collective | New Orleans
Visual Arts Editor
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Cooperation New Orleans Loan Fund - Solidarity Economy Movement Organization | New Orleans
Steering Committee Member​
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Cooperation Gumbo - research creation project uplifting Black cooperative economics in New Orleans
Organizer/artist
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La Plante - Music Venue and Community Space | Montreal
Collective member
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Philadelphia Jazz Residency | Philadelphia
Lyricist/performer
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Puentes De Salud - Free Clinic for Undox Immigrants
Teaching Artist
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Yes! And Collaborative Arts
Teaching artist
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Emergency Circus - Social Circus
Touring Performer
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Philly Young Playwrights
Youth Mentor
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Fellowships & Residencies
2022
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2019
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2018
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2018
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2017
​Emerging Voices - Filmmaking Fellowship | New Orleans
Fellow
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Dragon Dance Theater | Toulouse, France
Puppeteer
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Le Grande Costumier | Montreal, CA
Intern
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Art Klub | New Orleans
Resident
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One Love Community Center | New Orleans
Resident
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mentions | panels | Publications | Awards
South Pitch - Regional Film Competition | New Orleans Film Festival
Winner
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Metal Hurlant Anthology - Publication
Writer
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Tilted House Review | New Orleans
Writer
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New Voices Festival - Philly Young Playwrights
Winning Playwright
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Young Voices Festival - Philly Young Playwrights
Winning Playwright
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​​South Summit | New Orleans Film Festival
Panelist
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Remaking the Economy: Building Regional Solidarity Economies | New Economy Coalition
Panelist​​
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2022
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2021
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2021
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2015
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2017​​​
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2023, 2024
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2024
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