Maya Rose Edwards (they/them) is a visual artist working across research-based collaboration, site-specific intervention, live art, and sculpture to foster reflection and resistance. Since graduating from The Glasgow School of Art, they have developed ambitious participatory public works exploring the politics of place, queer ecologies, landmarking, and forgotten rural cultures. Their practice is rooted in rural communities, working with farmers, stonemasons, hedgelayers, and sailors to re-centre disadvantaged sites as forms of sculptural protest.
In 2023, during the Mount Stuart Artists Residency, their project TWOFOLD explored queer and rural identities on the Isle of Bute, resulting in permanent site-specific works. They are currently leading a three-year commission along Stranraer’s abandoned waterfront, co-designing an active landmark with communities along a post-industrial coastline.
They are the recipient of the RSA New Contemporaries Selection 2023 (Chalmers Award), Steven Palmer Travel Bursary 2023, UK New Artists 2025, and Shape Arts x Baltic Residency 2024–25. Recent projects include a commission with the Alasdair Gray Archives and a permanent artwork marking the Highland Boundary Fault with Cove Park. In 2025, they exhibited public works at Frieze Art Fair, received a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award, and began developing a commission for Meadow Arts, to be installed at Hay Castle in Spring 2026.
The installation Kissing Gate was selected for the 13th and 14th edition of Sculpture in the City and is installed in Central London.
@mre_arts
In 2023, during the Mount Stuart Artists Residency, their project TWOFOLD explored queer and rural identities on the Isle of Bute, resulting in permanent site-specific works. They are currently leading a three-year commission along Stranraer’s abandoned waterfront, co-designing an active landmark with communities along a post-industrial coastline.
They are the recipient of the RSA New Contemporaries Selection 2023 (Chalmers Award), Steven Palmer Travel Bursary 2023, UK New Artists 2025, and Shape Arts x Baltic Residency 2024–25. Recent projects include a commission with the Alasdair Gray Archives and a permanent artwork marking the Highland Boundary Fault with Cove Park. In 2025, they exhibited public works at Frieze Art Fair, received a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award, and began developing a commission for Meadow Arts, to be installed at Hay Castle in Spring 2026.
The installation Kissing Gate was selected for the 13th and 14th edition of Sculpture in the City and is installed in Central London.
@mre_arts
2025 Solo —
Of Us & Others, Civic House, Glasgow
Highland Boundary Fault Stile, Permanent Installation, Argyll, Scotland
Group —
Forever Moving, Outpost Gallery, Norwich
Modern Nature, Frieze Art Fair, London
2024 Solo —
Raise The Sails, Stranraer, Scotland
Unconformity, Marchmont House, Scottish Borders
Group —
Blanket Bog, Glasgow (collaboration)
Kissing Gate, Sculpture in the City, London
2023 Solo —
TWOFOLD, Permanent Public Sculpture, Isle of Bute, Scotland
Trans(Plant), Permanent Installation, Mount Stuart, Scotland
Group —
Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
RSA New Contemporaries, Edinburgh
2022
Solo —
A Law of Common Fate, Greenock, Scotland
The Strong Women of Seedhill, Paisley, Scotland
Plant The Seed, Glasgow
Group —
Catch A Drift, Girvan Community Garden (collaboration), Scotland
Growing Sideways, Offline Gallery, Scotland
2020-21 Solo —
Dumfries Midsteeple ‘The 2 Niches’ Gallery, Dumfries, Scotland
Group —
SEA in the contracted field, Lang Craigs Woodland trust, Scotland
Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
Alternative Degree Show, Glasgow
GSA Digital Showcase, Online
(In)Visible Cities, UK Mexican Arts Society, London
2019 Group —
- Graduate Exhibition, Leeds Arts University, Leeds
- Origins Creative Arts Festival, Oxo Tower, London
- Lost at SEA, GSA Barnes Building, Glasgow
- 33 1/3, 10 North Frederick Street, Glasgow
- Get Liminal, The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow
Meadow Arts ‘5 Minutes with’ 2025
Freize Art Fair 2025
Highland Boundary Fault Commission 2025
Royal Academy Recommendations 2025
Time Out Magazine Review ‘Kissing Gate’ 2024
ITV News Interview ‘Kissing Gate’ 2024
Harbour Project Interview 2024
The Scotsman Review RSA New Contemporaries 2023
Scottish Field Magazine Review ‘TWOFOLD’ 2023
Mount Stuart ‘TWOFOLD’ Feature 2022
Trebuchet Magazine Review ‘(in)visible cities) 2021
The Times Newspaper Review 2021
Awards
Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award 2025
EcoArts Fund Recipient 2024
Sculpture In The City 13th & 14th Editions 2024/26
Steven Palmer Travel Bursary 2023
RSA Chalmers Bursary Award 2023
The School of The Damned 2022/23
Creative Scotland Youth Arts Bursary 2022
Access All Arts Fund 2021/22
RSA New Contemporaries Selection 2021
Origins Creative Arts Festival Best Young Practitioner 2018
Live Artwork Commission, Meadow Arts, (upcoming)
Frieze Art Fair Commission 2025
Alasdair Gray Archive Commission 2025
Highland Boundary Fault Public Artwork 2025
UK New Artist Residency 2025
BALTIC x Shape Arts Cohort 2024/25
Hugo Burge Foundation Residency 2024
Harbour Project Public Art Commission 2024 - (ongoing)
Timespan Museum Residency 2023
Disability Arts Online Commission 2023
Culture Collective Commission 2023
Project Ability Residency 2023
Mount Stuart Trust Artist in Residence 2022/23
Inverclyde Culture Collective Residency 2021/22