Mai’yah Kau, also known as Maima, The Water Spirit, is an emerging queer Liberian diasporic multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY with roots in Staten Island/ Shaolin. Their work weaves together identity, heritage, and spirituality, blending traditional West African dance with contemporary queer performance and burlesque to create ceremonial rituals and embodied storytelling. Through movement and multidisciplinary art, Kau searches for ancestral narratives—both personal and collective—as a way to honor heritage while imagining new futures. Their practice is an ongoing exploration of transformation, resilience, and the fluidity of cultural memory.
ID: Maima the water spirit looking at the camera from over their shoulder in a blue caftan.