Born in San Vicente, El Salvador, in 1989.

Lives in Dolgellau, Wales, UK.

Mau Samayoa's work begins with the transformation of existing materials. Through cutting, binding, concealing, transcribing, and accumulation, he alters photographs, documents, texts, and found materials to reflect on how memories and identities are continually reshaped over time.

He is interested in what happens when memories become partially inaccessible. In contrast to the culture of visibility and constant exposure that increasingly shapes contemporary life, many of his works conceal as much as they reveal. They invite a slower process of looking in which meaning emerges through textures, patterns, traces, and fragments. Samayoa is less interested in illustrating memory than in creating spaces where it can be sensed, questioned, and reconstructed.

Having left El Salvador at a young age, he has often engaged in his work with memory, migration, and identity. More recently, this enquiry has expanded beyond personal histories towards collective forms of remembering and the cultural practices through which knowledge is carried across generations. Through drawing, sculpted paper, archives, and ephemeral installations, he explores how memories are preserved, altered, transmitted, and reinterpreted over time.

Underlying the work is an interest in the relationship between memory and identity. Samayoa examines how memories shape individual and collective understandings of who we are, and how access to archives, histories, and cultural narratives influences what is remembered, forgotten, or passed on.

CV

Collections

— Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK.
— Pardon Collection, USA.
— Cleveland Clinic, NY, USA.

Solo Exhibitions

2025 — to tie a knot [Carlos Violante], San Salvador, SV.
2021 — one by one to one million, Birmingham, UK.
2018 — Intimate Spaces, Birmingham, UK.

Group Exhibitions

2026 — Un pensamiento minúsculo, Centro Párraga, Murcia, ES.
2026 — Artificiales, Vienal 2.0, Santiago, CL.
2025 — At Hand, At Present: Collage and the Practice of Making Do, MACAA, Illinois, USA.
2025 — Aquí, otra vez: Origins Revisited, Santo Domingo, DR.
2025 — Passengers, London, UK.
2025 — Paper, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK.
2025 — Sensorial Fusion: Relationship Art & Architecture, NYLAAT, New York, USA.
2025 — Thresholds [Adam Wynn], Birmingham, UK.
2025 — Volver, San Salvador, SV.
2024 — Draw a Line. Erase a Line, Denver, CO, USA.
2024 — YES Group Exhibition, San Salvador, SV.
2023 — el blanco va de fondo [Sebastián Cobo], Piramidón Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, ES.
2023 — Los Futuros del Lenguaje, Santo Domingo, DR.
2022 — Mutant Materialities, Wolverhampton, UK.
2021 — Ikon for Artists, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK.
2019 — Something’s Brewing, Birmingham, UK.
2019 — La Piel Hacia Afuera, Buenos Aires, AR.
2016 — Lo Otro, Buenos Aires, AR.

Residencies

2026 — LEA, Laboratory of Experimental Art, Madrid, ES.
2023 — Piramidón Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, ES.
2022 — Piramidón Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, ES.

Awards

2024 — Pardon Prize.

Art Fairs

2026 — PINTA, Lima, PE.
2025 — Art on Paper, New York, USA.
2024 — Art on Paper, New York, USA.
2024 — MECA, Santo Domingo, DR.

Publications

2026 — Joss Pinto, “La textura de la memoria. Archivo y borramiento en la obra de Mauricio Samayoa”, Revista Artishock. 

2024 — Featured artist, Revue Collé.

Education

2024–         — Estudios Independientes V, Chile.
2011–2016 — Visual Arts and Art Restoration & Cultural Heritage Conservation, Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Buenos Aires, AR.