Manuel Vazquez, also known as Mava, has a story of overcoming barriers and breaking through discrimination. He has a unique background as Latin/German, a deaf male and gay individual born in Germany and raised in a military environment. He also has heritage from Puerto Rico with a German lifestyle. Despite facing many challenges and obstacles including relocating to mainstream schools over seven times among hearing students, Mava persevered and graduated from a deaf institution.
From a young age, Mava had a passion for the arts and fashion, he pursued this interest by attending fashion school. However, he eventually decided to focus on his passion for the arts and graduated from Gallaudet University, the only deaf university in the world, with a degree in art. Despite facing rejections from graduate art schools for over six years, Manuel continued to practice and refine his skills, eventually earning his MFA from the Visual School of Art.
Mava's talent in the art industry has flourished, and he has worked in galleries in Brooklyn while also serving as an artist assistant in NYC. He also presented his work in Aqua Art during the Miami Art Basel and gave a presentation at MOMA PS1, he now works as an associate professor at Gallaudet University.
Mava's art is exceptional, he uses his visual and tactile senses to communicate his message effectively. He is heavily involved with sculpture, as it aligns with his language, American Sign Language, and allows him to express himself in the third dimension. Despite being deaf in a predominantly hearing environment, Mava wants to introduce his audience to observe his work from a different perspective by using their senses of sight and touch. He believes that by doing so, people can truly appreciate his art and the message he is trying to convey.