Born in San Vicente, El Salvador, in 1989.

Lives in Dolgellau, Wales, UK.

Biography

Mau Samayoa is a visual artist whose practice investigates memory structures through drawing, sculpted paper, photography, text and archival materials. Through processes of incision, accumulation and transcription, he transforms memories and fragments of information into visual systems that explore how experiences are encoded, transmitted and reconstructed over time.

Samayoa studied Fine Arts and Art Restoration at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His work has been exhibited internationally throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States. It is included in the collections of Wolfson College, University of Oxford, the Pardon Collection and the Cleveland Clinic.

Statement

His work investigates memory structures: the material, visual and ritual systems through which experiences are encoded, transmitted, transformed and reconstructed over time. Through personal and collective histories, Samayoa explores how memory extends beyond individual recollection and becomes embedded in forms of notation, repetition, cultural practice and relationships to place.

Through processes of incision, accumulation and transcription, memories and fragments of information are translated into visual structures resembling bitmaps, scripts, instructions and mnemonic devices. These forms do not seek to represent memory directly; rather, they examine the mechanisms that organise, preserve, displace and reactivate memory.

Central to his practice is an understanding of memory as a dynamic process of continual reconstruction, shaped by migration, ritual, transmission and loss. Recent works expand this enquiry through vernacular and devotional forms, exploring how memory becomes embodied in material practices and sustained through repetition.

CV

Collections

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

Solo Exhibitions

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

Group Exhibitions

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

Residencies

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

Awards

2024 — Pardon Prize.

Art Fairs
2024 — Art on Paper, New York, USA.
2025 — Art on Paper, New York, USA.
2026 — PINTA, Lima, PE.

Education

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