Mai Ta Vietnam, b. 1997

Mai Ta's practice can be seen as a meditation on metamorphosis; a constant cycle of death and rebirth that is deeply entwined with her experience of femininity. Through delicate layers of watercolor and gouache, Ta paints thresholds that mark these moments of transformation; dimly lit interiors, nocturnal gardens, the faint reflection of a mirror, a bird in mid-flight. Within them, recurring motifs — skeletons, mirrors, open doors — appear as fragments of a private cosmology.

Rooted in her personal history yet resonant on a universal level, Ta’s practice speaks of the experience of constant becoming: of shedding old skins, of the reflection between life and image. With each gesture, she redefines painting not as representation but as renewal — a space where loss, memory, and transformation coexist in silent harmony.

Ta graduated from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan with a Bachelors in Fine Art and Illustration. Mai Ta been a part of national and international exhibitions such as Two Sides of One Coin, Taikang Art Museum, Beijing, China, 2024; The Midnight Hour, The Hole, New York, 2023; Blue Girl, Pablo’s Birthday, New York, 2023; and Wonder Women, Jefferey Deitch, curated by Kathy Huang, New York, 2022. Her work has been featured in Elephant Magazine, Colossal Magazine, Booooooom Magazine, Heritage In-flight Magazine, The Lab-Saigon, and the Nashville Review. In 2020, Ta was awarded the Nancy Lee Rhodes Roberts Scholarship Award by the Society of Illustrators in New York. She currently lives and works in Saigon, Vietnam