In The Studio With Maia Ruth Lee
Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano
Photography by Maria Del Rio
Photographed by Maria Del Rio
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The artist, mother, and grad student invites us into her new studio space in San Francisco's Richmond District.
Migration has long been a defining thread in Maia Ruth Lee’s life and work. Born in Busan, South Korea and largely raised in Nepal, where her parents worked as Bible translators, her early years were shaped by constant movement and cultural fluidity.
Her studies took her to Seoul and Vancouver, followed by formative years in New York City—and later Salida, Colorado—where her art practice deepened alongside her evolution into motherhood (her son, Nima, is 8).
Now based in San Francisco, where she is pursuing a master’s degree in Migration Studies, Maia continues to expand her acclaimed Bondage Baggage series, exploring the push and pull of migration through paintings, sculptures, and video.
With a busy season ahead—including work slated for a bevy of international art fairs—Maia invited us into her studio in the Richmond District, where life unfolds in tandem with her husband, photographer Peter Sutherland, and their anime-loving son. There, we spoke about a subject that clearly animates her just as deeply as her work: motherhood.
In the conversation ahead, she reflects on the hallucinatory wonder of pregnancy, the long arc of postpartum healing, and the profound, still-unfolding transformation of becoming a mother.
“Motherhood has been the single most transformative experience, yet I still don’t quite know how to articulate it,” she says. “I feel more myself than ever—more authentic—but at the same time, I’m completely changed. It opened up access to my deepest inner complexities, and I’m still uncovering them as I watch this child grow before my eyes.”
Grab a cup of something warm, settle in, and enjoy Maia’s thoughtful words.
Follow Maia on @maia_ruth_lee on Instagram and see more of her work at maiaruthlee.xyz
Did you always know you wanted to be a mother?
"I think I was always curious about motherhood, but not driven by a strong desire for it—if anything, I held more ambivalence and quiet reservations than anticipation I think!"
How was your pregnancy and birth experience?
"Pregnancy was surprisingly bright and joyful. I meditated often and tried to channel a sense of awe and fascination about this child growing inside me. Most days, it felt almost hallucinatory—like I was moving through the world in a heightened, surreal state."
"Before I started showing, I remember walking through New York City feeling like I had a secret superpower. No one around me knew the transformation I was undergoing—that there was a small human growing inside me. Around that time, I also began noticing other pregnant people for the first time; the more I looked, the more I could see."
"My birth experience, however, was not as ideal. It was difficult and traumatic, something that took me many years to process and physically heal from. The bright point in it all though, was that Nima was born with no complications and came exactly on his due date—'on time.' Both sets of grandparents had flown in just a few days earlier in anticipation, and he arrived right when they were there to welcome him."
“I don’t think anyone can truly prepare you for motherhood. It feels as though everything will end and something entirely new will begin—but you have no real sense of what that will look like or feel like.”
Tell us about your son's name.
"Nima Silver is a name made up of different kinds of brightness. In the Sherpa language, Nima means 'sun' and it’s also traditionally given to someone born on a Sunday. It’s a common name—I grew up knowing many Nimas in Nepal."
"Silver comes from a friend of my husband’s and was almost his first name, though I’m glad it became his middle name. To me, silver feels luminous and quietly powerful."
What excites you about raising a son? Has motherhood made you think about gender differently?
"When I was first pregnant, I was convinced I was having a daughter, so I was surprised when we found out it was a boy. I was excited either way, and it made me realize how easily I had been thinking in binary terms and how silly that is, but Nima is a great kid who fully embraces his boyhood, and it’s been a beautiful experience."
Do you want more kids?
"It took many years of navigating postpartum before we felt ready to try again. When we did, we experienced four miscarriages, and after a while, we made the decision to stop trying."
What has surprised you about the experience of motherhood so far?
"Motherhood has been the single most transformative experience, yet I still don’t quite know how to articulate it. I feel more myself than ever—more authentic—but at the same time, I’m completely changed. It opened up access to my deepest inner complexities, and I’m still uncovering them as I watch this child grow before my eyes."
What was your own upbringing like?
"My upbringing was layered in many ways—my parents were missionaries, and my father was also a pastor. I grew up in Nepal, but we moved frequently between there and Korea, immersed in a constant mixing of cultures, traditions, and beliefs. My parents remained deeply religious, while my brother and I began questioning things from a very young age. I stayed persistently curious, even somewhat rebellious, while my brother eventually returned to religion."
"Religion is a curious thing. Recently, someone described faith to me as 'taking their word for it.' That kind of faith requires a profound level of trust, as well as an awareness of how others’ values align with your own. It’s something I’ve been thinking about since I was young, I’ve challenged and questioned it my whole life."
Is art and creativity something you're trying to infuse into your Nima's childhood?
"Since Nima was small, I tried not to impose too much of my own preferences onto him, especially when it came to making art. That was the one thing I didn’t want him to be turned off by, so I don’t recall initiating any structured, sit-down art projects; instead, we exposed him to experiencing a lot of things—seeing art, traveling, movies, music, roadtripping, etc."
"When he was five, I remember he still hadn’t shown much interest in drawing or mark-making. Then one day, he asked me how to draw a spider. I sketched a fairly anatomically accurate one, not expecting him to follow it closely—but to my surprise, he replicated it almost exactly on his paper. Until then, I had only seen scribbles and paint smears, so it was exciting to realize he was interested in representation and had a natural ability for it. I didn’t overreact—I didn’t want him to become self-conscious—but I was secretly thrilled that he had picked it up in his own way."
"Since then, he’s become an avid drawer, especially into manga-style comics, and has developed a real talent for creating hand-drawn logos. We also love analog things, so since Nima was a baby he’s been watching VHS tapes and listens to cassette tapes and mixes on his walkman. LOL. He knows he has to wait for a full rewind."
“I feel more myself than ever—more authentic—but at the same time, I’m completely changed. It opened up access to my deepest inner complexities, and I’m still uncovering them as I watch this child grow before my eyes.”
What excites you most about motherhood right now?
"Motherhood is ever-changing, it keeps surprising me how it shifts and evolves almost everyday. It’s relieving to know that we’re allowed to break the mold everyday if we choose to. That part gives me freedom to try new things out with my kid, I’m really excited about his stage right now—they say 8 is great. It truly is."
What makes you most nervous?
"The anxiety of motherhood can feel boundless, and I’ve found that the more I give it attention the more it gets in the way, so I really try and meditate and quieten that side of my mind."
What advice would you give to other moms—especially artist moms—about to start their motherhood journey?
"One piece of advice that stayed with me was to bring your child into your own life and routine as much as possible. The baby phase is incredibly challenging—I found it difficult to navigate and even harder to adjust to. Of course, their immediate needs come first, and they have to be prioritized. But we made a conscious effort to fold Nima into our lives and our community wherever and whenever we could. It wasn’t perfect, but with time, we can begin to see how that choice is shaping all of us."
Tell us about your studio.
"I’ve had my studio now for about 5 months and I really love it. It’s on one of my favorite streets in S.F. and I get a lot of natural light in the space. Right now I utilize the space more as my reading, studying, and writing space—but I have room to make art and can still work on projects and deadlines. It’s also situated between home and school, so I’m able to go there everyday to work."
You're new to the Bay Area—how has the transition been?
"We moved here without many expectations, other than beginning my graduate studies—an MA in Migration Studies. We didn’t do much research beforehand, but somehow the transition felt surprisingly smooth, almost seamless. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop—wondering when it might get harder."
"After living in New York for a while, you get used to that city-pace—the grit, the constant hustle. I love New York so much, but it can be an incredibly difficult place to sustain as a small family. We spent some time in Colorado between New York and here, and now San Francisco feels like a middle ground between the two. We live near the ocean, surrounded by beautiful parks. Our neighborhood is quiet, yet we’re still very much in the city."
Do you have any favorite spots in the Bay Area so far?
"Nima and I have been going to the Clement Farmers Market almost every week, then we’ll usually bop over to the Alemany Flea Market. Nima will look for cards, and I just browse and look for goodies. For art, I love the museums here—I think BAMPFA and de Young are my favorites so far."
How has becoming a mother impacted your creativity and career?
"I don’t think anyone can truly prepare you for motherhood. It feels as though everything will end and something entirely new will begin—but you have no real sense of what that will look like or feel like. It’s both terrifying and exhilarating at once. In that state—when a kind of survival instinct takes over—there’s also a superhuman energy that begins to stir from deep within. It feels like a revving, something creative at its core. Whether or not you’re an artist by trade, it affects you in a profoundly powerful way. It’s difficult to quantify that kind of impact because it isn’t about success or failure. It’s simply, and completely, transformative in every way imaginable."
Do you have regular hours that you try to work each day?
"I’m at the studio almost every day, and now that I have evening classes, there are times when I’m gone from morning until night. Peter has really stepped in in a huge way while I balance my studies and studio work. I try to keep a boundary between work and home—I make an effort to be fully off on weekends and spend that time with my family whenever I can. Still, most nights I’m up late, studying."
What's inspiring you lately—especially in these turbulent times?
"Studying has been deeply inspiring for me lately. The study of migration is such a vast umbrella—it spans history, economy, climate, sociology, cultural studies, ethnic studies, immigration law and policy, pedagogies, epistemologies, ontologies, critical refugee studies, and expansive forms of solidarity work, among many other areas. This is what keeps both my mind and heart engaged these days. It helps me feel more grounded in a time that is uncertain and unmoored. It offers a deeper understanding to some of the whys and hows, and even though there are no clear solutions, it’s teaching me to think beyond the confines of the frameworks we’ve been given. Creativity and imagination feel more valuable now than ever."
Do you have any go-to creative habits or practices to get grounded and inspired?
"A couple of months ago, I started volunteering at Creativity Explored, a progressive art studio here in San Francisco that supports and nurtures artists with developmental disabilities. The community I’ve met—and had the privilege to serve—are truly wonderful, awe-inspiring artists. I feel incredibly lucky to take part and to witness the beauty and magic that unfolds in the studio!"
Any big goals or happenings—professionally or personally—that you're excited about for the year ahead?
"I’m working on a few exhibitions that will open in New York this year and next. I’m excited to see how my work evolves over the coming months. As much as the Year of the Fire Horse is said to be about finally doing the thing you’ve been meaning to do for ages, I really do feel like this is that year—the final push to challenge myself and step fully into it.'
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