About

Maya Kotwal is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York City whose practice explores the materialization of memory, intersectional identity, and the spatial dynamics of cultural reclamation.

Working across sculpture, metalwork, and tactile paper mediums, Kotwal’s work investigates themes of diasporic identity, assimilation, belonging, otherization, translation, queerness, and multiplicity. Her practice intentionally bypasses traditional linguistic communication to explore how physicalization, materiality, and the senses can bridge generational gaps and reconcile cultural dysphoria.

By employing a methodology of abstraction, fragmentation, deconstruction, and reconstruction, Kotwal transforms personal archives and cultural artifacts into objects of critical inquiry. Central to her current work is the concept of personal opacity and intentional illegibility—using material distortion to protect the nuances of the queer, diasporic experience from external scrutiny and the demands of audience voyeurism.

Kotwal holds a BS in Marketing from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and an MFA in Communication Design from the Pratt Institute.