Manuel Chavajay, Maya Tz’utujil artist, lives and works in San Pedro La Laguna. Chavajay is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, sculpture, video and installations, centering a decolonial critique and a vindication and re-construction of a contemporary Maya culture. Between 2001 and 2009 he carried out environmental projects and interpretive trails around the Lake Atitlán watershed. He is currently a Sponsor of contemporary art in the widespread Mayan community with Canal Cultural, a collective of artists in San Pedro La Laguna. He is a graduate of the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Rafael Rodríguez Padilla, ‘10. He studied art history at the Institute for Training and Development, Amherst, MA, ‘09.

Chavajay has participated in countless group and solo presentations internationally, including the São Paulo Biennial (Brazil), El Espacio 23 (FL, USA), the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (CA, USA), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna, Austria), Bienal SIART (La Paz, Bolivia), International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Curitiba (Brazil), La Bienal de Artes Visuales del Istmo Centroamericano, and art fairs such as ARCO Madrid (Spain) and Salón ACME (Mexico). His work is part of institutional collections such as El Museo del Barrio (NY, USA), Kadist Collection (CA, USA), Colección Banco de España (Spain), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Spain), Art in Embassies Collection (US Embassy in Guatemala), National Gallery of Canada, El Espacio 23 (FL, USA), Fundación Nacional para las Bellas Artes y la Cultura (Antigua Guatemala), Centro de Arte Fundación Ortiz Gurdián (Nicaragua), Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (NY, USA), and numerous private collections.