Maïa Nunes (they/them) is an emerging Irish-Trinidadian performance artist whose interdisciplinary work is deeply rooted in their own ancestry. Their research explores legacies of colonial violence, performance as a site of transformative potential, and possibilities for practicing and thereby accessing liberation.
Maïa’s ritualistic performance work merges written text with textiles, movement and sound to create immersive sound environments and visual textural sensory experiences. Since graduating from Textile Art & Artefact at NCAD, Maïa has been growing their toolkit of creative practice across textile craft, video production; sound design & production; vocal training & sound healing; movement practice; written & illustration work; and social practice & community engagement. Recently, their video performance work ARIMA (originally commissioned by Liz Roche Company as part of a suite of performance works entitled Alternately Terrific and Gentle) was purchased for IMMA’s permanent collection. In May 2021, their newest improvisational performance work SPECTRAL was shown at NCAD Gallery closing a program of events: After Effects & Untold Histories, Politics and Spaces of Performance since the 1990s. They were also commissioned to produce a package of illustrative and written work for I WANT YOU TO KNOW, a Dublin International Literary Festival project. In June 2021, their newest audio work THIS SORROW was shown as an installation as part of On Belonging, a Basic Space group exhibition at The Library Project, Temple Bar, curated by Diana Bamimeke.
Maïa was a recipient of the Irish Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary Award in 2020, Agility Award in 2021, & the Wicklow Arts Office Artist Support Award 2020 & 21.
Maïa is also co-founder of Origins Eile, a grassroots organisation, centring the safety and experiences of QTIBPOC in Ireland. In 2020, Origins Eile ran a small program of events entitled DESTINY: A Constellation of Queer Afro Futurist Visions, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2020, and launched a new Black Queer publication called TONGUES in association with Black Pride Ireland.
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www.maianunes.com
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1. Maïa Nunes in ARIMA by Maïa Nunes, as part of a suite of performance works commissioned by Liz Roche Company entitled Alternately Terrific and Gentle. Photo credit: Gesiye Souza-Okpofabri (2020)
2. Maïa Nunes in ARIMA by Maïa Nunes, as part of a suite of performance works commissioned by Liz Roche Company entitled Alternately Terrific and Gentle. Photo credit: Gesiye Souza-Okpofabri (2020)
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