Shara Mays (b. 1972) lives and works in Oakland, California, and Cartagena, Colombia. Her work is a dialogue between identity and environment. She uses paint, color theory, and the language of landscape to explore themes of liberation. She reflects on personal histories related to land and its communities, fostering discussions about what exactly is land ownership and who has the right to claim the memory of a place. Shara Mays received her BFA from The Corcoran College of Art in 2000, and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2020.


Select solo exhibitions include Ronchini Gallery, London (2026); Chandran Gallery, San Francisco (2025), The Pit, Los Angeles (2025), Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York (2024), Harper’s Gallery, East Hampton (2024), Marrow Gallery, San Francisco (2023), and Chandran Gallery, San Francisco (2022).
Select group shows include James Cohan Gallery, New York, New York (2024), LatchKey Gallery, New York, New York (2023), Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, Texas (2023), the International African American Museum, Charleston, South Carolina (2023), and Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, California (2022).

Art Fairs include a solo booth at The Armory Show, NADA Miami, EXPO Chicago, and Felix Art Fair. Residencies include the Meta Open Arts AIR Program, Headlands Center for the Arts, and Vermont Studio Center.

Mays’ work is included in the collections of Alice L. Walton Foundation, The Green Family Foundation, Art in Embassies, Meta Open Arts, George Washington University, The International African American Museum, and The Gray Art Collection