MaiYap is a multidisciplinary Panamanian-born artist of Chinese descent based in Miami. A self-trained painter, she began her practice in 1992, after Hurricane Andrew and the birth of her daughter, and for many years painted lush landscapes and threatened ecosystems exclusively with the palette knife. Her work grows from three intertwined roots: the fragile state of the planet, her Chinese Panamanian identity and the often-silenced experience of menopause. After the pandemic and the rise of anti-Asian violence, she turned to installations that transform everyday objects into vessels of memory, and created "In the Absence of Blood," 1,000 flowers made from more than 32,000 sanitary pads. Her solo exhibitions include "A House of Small Altars" at Edge Zones (2026) and "Eco-Aesthetics in Motion" at MOCA Americas (2024). She founded Palette Knife Artists of Miami in 2013 and is volunteer art curator at Biscayne National Park.
