Maya Tihtiyas Attean

Maya Tihtiyas Attean (born 1994) is a Wabanaki artist living and working in Portland. She grew up on Alnabe Menahan, the Penobscot Nation Reservation. Her work has evolved into using photography to create art reflecting her ancestry, resiliency, and culture. Her experience growing up on a reservation and then migrating to a city has given her a unique perspective upon two worlds that she merges by marrying the techniques of multiple cultures in her work. She earned her BFA with honors in photography in May 2023 from the Maine College of Art and Design. She is currently one of the 2024 BIPOC artist studio awardees at SPACE gallery in Portland.  

Artist Statement

In the persistent echo of energetic footprints, the scars of colonization mar the very essence of the earth, whose life-giving energy is too often taken for granted. My work delves into the intricate relationship between the land, its people, and the enduring impact of colonization.

Through the lens of Wabanaki history and culture, my work unveils strands of forgotten stories in what is now known as “Maine.” The intergenerational trauma etched into the landscape finds echoes in my creations, which emphasize the enduring scars embedded in both the earth and bodies. My work invites viewers to ponder the land, contemplating questions of occupation and ownership. It prompts reflection on who exploits the land, and how systems of oppression have disrupted balance.

I use my body in the natural world to explore the concept of intergenerational trauma and how that relates to the land. This speaks to my own identities contained within a colonized and decolonized body. Using nature as a catalyst, my photographs create a world with narratives of the otherworldly within, a realm in which the spirit can move freely between perceptions of reality—a world in which my appearance is irrelevant.

My work uses the Passamaquoddy language, providing a visual gateway into the natural and spiritual realms—an homage to the resilience and depth of Wabanaki narratives. These memories, like ancestral blood, flow through the veins of the earth, eternally remembered.