Following an open call back in May, Maya Rose Edwards has been named as the commissioned artist for BorderLands, a Meadow Arts project inspired by Offa’s Dyke and the Welsh Border region.

Maya Rose Edwards is a visual artist working across various media through research-based collaborations, site specific intervention, live art, sculpture and participatory encounters. Since graduating from The Glasgow School of Art in 2021, they have developed a reputation for producing ambitious public artworks that focus on the politics of place, rural culture, acts of landmarking, and queer ecologies. They are drawn to rural culture and its ability to engage communities with their landscapes.

BorderLands is a three-year, place-based partnership project inspired by Offa’s Dyke and the Welsh Border region. Looking at borders near and far, it challenges the idea of fixed borders dividing territory and communities. It suggests that borders might be read as more mutable and that the territory they create can be places of connections, distinctiveness and exchange. Through contemporary visual art, the project invites communities to reflect on how they experience and interpret borders in their own lives and globally.

BorderLands will unfold through a programme of participatory workshops and creative activities in the Welsh Border region – particularly the towns of Hay on Wye, Kington and Presteigne – leading to a new public commission. Shaped by collective imagination, this work will be shared digitally and in local venues, and finally exhibited in a major exhibition at Hay Castle in spring 2026. Timed to coincide with the Hay Festival, the exhibition will present the new commission alongside loaned works by national and international artists, spanning both the Castle’s historic interior and surrounding grounds. 

Beginning in Autumn 2025, Maya will be meeting and working with local people at BorderLands events in Kington, Hay-on-Wye and Presteigne.

Anyone interested in these events is welcome and can find out more by emailing: creativeproducer@meadowarts.org

Anne de Charmant, Artistic Director of Meadow Arts, said:

It was incredible to receive such a positive response to the BorderLands open call. The quality and imagination across the applications were inspiring. We’re thrilled to welcome Maya to the project.

Maya Rose Edwards, commissioned artist, said:

I’m genuinely delighted to have been awarded this commission with Meadow Arts and the BorderLands project. I am looking forward to exploring this complex landscape and creating actions that both preserve and query the complex legacies of the border. I am keen to foster authentic relationships across the 3 towns, connecting with groups and land workers to uncover local knowledge that exist outside of formal archives and embed these throughout the final artwork. With hopes to create something together that not only informs but inspires future action and understanding of the socio-political dynamics at play across this expansive space. You’ll expect to find me in your local pubs and cafes, wandering the footpaths and digging down ditches. Please do stop for a chat or reach out directly if you have any questions or are interested in getting involved. I can’t wait to meet you.

Maya will take up residencies in the Welsh Border region later this year and work with local communities to explore the project’s central themes of borders, place, and identity.

About the artist 

Maya Rose Edwards is a visual artist working across all media in research-based collaborations, site specific intervention, live art, sculpture and participatory encounters to foster a sense of reflection and resistance. Since graduating from The Glasgow School of Art in 2021, they have developed a reputation for producing ambitious public artworks that focus on the politics of place, rural culture, acts of landmarking, and queer ecologies. They are drawn to rural culture and its ability to engage communities with their landscapes.

Their work interrogates a belief that agriculture and industry are an extension to the legacy of land art, a sculptural form of protest. They centre forgotten, or disadvantaged sites to re-envision a sense of place and community, often in collaboration with unexpected public audiences, as demonstrated in work with farmers, foresters, stonemasons, and sailors.

They are the recipient of the RSA New Contemporaries Selection 2023 for which they received the Chalmers Award, Steven Palmer Travel Bursary 2023, UK New Artists 2025, Shape Arts x Baltic residency cohort 2024-25 & Henry Moore Artist Award 2025. They are currently developing a public artwork to mark the Highland Boundary Fault in collaboration with Cove Park, Scotland, are undertaking a live art commission ‘BorderLands’ with Meadow Arts in 2025-26. Their public artwork ‘Kissing Gate’ is featured within the second year of Sculpture in the City, in The City of London.

About Meadow Arts

Meadow Arts brings unique art projects to audiences in places with limited access to contemporary art, supporting artists by commissioning new work and creating inspiring events and exhibitions.

The organisation works with a variety of partners and locations, usually highly regarded heritage buildings, historic landscapes or public spaces. Meadow Arts’ work creates new audiences by bringing high quality contemporary art to areas where few other opportunities exist, accompanied by vibrant education and engagement programmes. 

Meadow Arts is a registered charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. It is supported using public funding by Arts Council England and receives funding from other Trusts and Foundations.   

www.meadowarts.org   

Facebook, Linkedin & Instagram: @meadowarts  

For further information or pictures please contact the Meadow Arts team via: meadowarts@gmail.com  

BorderLands in 2025-26 is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The UK Shared Prosperity Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.