The name of the piece is Fioriata, which means flowered or blooming. I’ve alwas felt the sunsets of Northern California bloom with color, with texture, and with drama.
Mays’ work explores the relationship between identity and environment through painting, color theory, and landscape language. She investigates themes of access, restriction, and belonging, often drawing from African diasporic histories.
Her process reflects on personal and collective relationships to land, using abstraction to examine memory, ownership, and place. Through layered compositions, she invites viewers to consider who holds the right to define and remember a landscape.
Shara Mays (b. Princeville, NC) lives and works between Oakland and Cartagena. She received her BFA from Corcoran College of Art and Design and her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute.
Her work has been exhibited widely, including at The Pit, James Cohan Gallery, and the International African American Museum, and is held in major public and private collections. She has also participated in residencies such as Headlands Center for the Arts.
