Maya Love (she/her, Pakeha) is a writer, art historian, and communications specialist based in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She’s the creature lurking behind d_composition.
She is currently working on her PhD, which explores the corpse in contemporary art, within the Art History department at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland. In her professional life, she has worked in a variety of arts and education settings, as well as in marketing, events, copywriting, and production.
Alongside her studies, she regularly adds to her writing portfolio. Maya has written for Artzone, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Foenander Gallery, The Art Paper, Broadsheet, Webb’s, Sanderson Contemporary, the Govett-Brewster Gallery, and more. A selection of her writing is available here.
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Doctor of Philosophy / Art History
Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland
Estimated completion 2025Maya’s research explores the affective power of the corpse in contemporary art (1990–present). Led by a fusion of cognitive and affective frameworks, she seeks a phenomenology of the post-humous body in case studies including works by Sally Mann, Matsui Fuyoko, Christine Borland, Iann An, Peng Yu, and Teresa Margolles.
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) / Art History
First Class Honours
Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland
2019First in course: MUS704, ARTHIS790
Maya’s BA (Hons) dissertation won the Adrienne Jarvis Prize in Art History (2019). This research, titled Corporeal Encounters, offered a phenomenological investigation of the corpse across select works by American photographer, Sally Mann, and Mexican interdisciplinary artist, Teresa Margolles. Corporeal Encounters has since been accessioned into the EH McCormick Library collection.
Bachelor of Arts / Art History
Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland
2015 – 2018First in course: ARTHIS334
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Maya is good with people, prose, and planning. Key skills include: copywriting, social media, stakeholder management, project management, research, and editing.
Previous experience includes:
Graduate Teaching Assistant
University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau
Art History 230/332: Art Crime (S1 2023)
Art History 115/G (S2 2023)Membership – Special Projects
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki
2022Membership Coordinator
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki
2019–2022Marketing Assistant
University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau
2019 -
Panellist
AAANZ23, Gold Coast, Australia
It’s alive: the corpse as a “teeming presence” in contemporary art
December 2023Guest lecturer
University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau
Art History 114/G
”Pop Art” and “Conceptual Art”
2023Presenter
University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau
Art History Department Pecha Kucha
Decomposition: the corpse in contemporary art
October 2022Presenter
Grave Matters: Imaging the dead, Online
The corpse in contemporary art
April 2022 -
New Zealand Art History Teachers Association
Pop, whaam, honk! The effervescence of Pop Art
November 2023Webb’s Select
Art in Aotearoa: A brief history
June 2023